Into the Darkness
by Vandal66
Summary: Anakin was never found by the Jedi, instead he had been raised as a Sith for most of his life. As Vader preforms the will of his master, the rebellion is pushed to the brink forcing some of its members to take drastic action. Meanwhile Padme and Kenobi united in a common goal embark on a quest to bring down the Sith and along the way they find discover the past.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Vader stepped out onto the bridge of his super star destroyer. His black cape billowing behind him, the admiral scrambled out of the Sith's way. He paid him no attention as he took his long strides towards the front section of the bridge. The black ink of space welcomed him as his view out the port windows. Halting his stepped before the wall, he stood legs stride hands clasped behind him back. The dark lord studied the stars as he disappeared into his thoughts. His shaggy hair needed to be cut, everything about him was ordered and strict. His jet black unmarked imperial tunic was straight and pressed. The dark cape that he always wore hung evenly across his broad shoulders. But his hair remained untamed. He didn't mind, he didn't really care what he looked like, he wasn't a vain person. He had been told by his master that he was quite the fetching bachelor back on Coruscant, all the court ladies had the hots for him. He didn't bother himself with such trivial matters. But Sidious was insistent that he take a bride, someone who could be produce a proper heir to their Sith empire. Vader snorted, a vicious sneer appeared on his face. What did his master know about it? He couldn't control him, he had much better things to do with his time than to fraternize with women. He was attracted to them, that wasn't it but love never entered into the equation. He often slept with women for his pleasure, but they were always gone in the morning and he like it that way. He was too busy hunting the empires enemies to have a women distracting him. It was a weakness he didn't want nor need.

His yellow eyes searched the vast ink of space, focusing on the multitude of stars. All his, or at least the Sith's. His master wouldn't appreciate his apprentice thinking that it was his, but the old man didn't matter, he would be dead before the years end if he had anything to say about it. After all the old man had told him that it was his duty as a Sith to overthrow the master. But Sidious never believe Vader would kill him. As far as Vader knew Sidious thought of Vader as an obedient lap dog to be ordered around. Vader's face twisted in rage at this thought. His master would pay dearly for all the assumptions he made about his apprentice. He created Vader and Vader would destroy him. Yes the emperor would suffer before the end as he had made Vader suffer all those years ago. He had taken him from his family and stolen his life from him. Not that he cared anymore. Family would only have been a weakness. The point was that he didn't have freedom, he was a slave to the whims of his Sith master. Always ordering him to do the empire's dirty work. Well he had had enough.

Vader's stance hardened. He would have to act quickly if he wanted to salvage the empire. Sidious had created it out of the ashes of the pathetic republic, it was his system. Vader was confident he could manage to keep the empire together. The military was on his side after all. The admirals and generals may fear him, but they also held a respect for him. He did the empire's work, unlike the emperor who sat in his palace of luxury all day playing with his court. They were his to command and he watched them clamor over each other trying to get closer to him. The men of the grand army of the empire didn't have time for such games. They were battle harden not appreciating the emperor's extravagance. They rarely found themselves on Coruscant and when they did it was for a few meetings before being shipped out once again to do the work of the empire. No, they had no loyalty to the emperor only the empire. They would follow him when the time was right. All he had to do was deal with this pesky rebellion.

Sidious played with them, Vader wanted them dead. He didn't play. He wanted them all dead, they were a threat to the peace of the empire and he wouldn't have it. Sidious cared nothing for the empire or its people. He only wanted to entertain himself. Vader finally decided that his master had had enough entertainment and the rebels needed to be put in their place. If he gave them too much leeway they might spread like a cancer through the empire causing a real civil war and that was unacceptable. He might have no need to love or compassion but he understood the need for peace and justice. He cared about the empire. He had done the heavy lifting while Sidious who just sat back and watched as the republic fell down around him. Vader did have to admit Sidious was excellent at manipulating the politicians and the bureaucracy but that mattered little now that the empire had been established. It was an empire for goodness sakes, it was led by one man and the bureaucracy was tied to his will. The emperor had outlived his usefulness a long time ago. If it hadn't been for the remaining Jedi and the rebels Vader would have disemboweled the man a long time ago. He had the power that much he knew. Sidious probably knew it as well but he was under the impression that Vader was reliant on him, that they shared some sort of bond. That couldn't be further from the truth. He cared nothing for the man, and would gladly kill him when the right time care.

But the emperor did have some sense. Vader was rarely called back to the capital of the empire. Sidious kept him out so that he could hunt the rebels properly. But he and his master knew that it was more to keep the apprentice away so the master felt safe. Fine! Vader snarled at his thoughts. Let the man think himself safe. And he was, for now. Sidious was right about one thing, he was safe as long was the rebels kept Vader occupied. As long as the apprentice had someone to vent his anger upon the master remained safe. Vader despised the rebels they fought for freedom. Freedom what did they know of it? He had grown up as a slave in a supposed galactic republic who outlawed slavery but turned the other way when it came to the huts. There was no such problem in the empire. The hut had been the first to come under the control of the Empire. Vader remembered the days when he captured Nar Shaddaa, Nal Hutta and Tatooine. He had ruthlessly slaughtered the Huts, personally tortured Jabba and had his rotting corps eaten by his own pet rancor. Watto also suffered. Oh yes, Vader remembered all too well the look on his old master's when his old slave walked back in dressed as the commander of the imperial navy. He had begged for his life as the lightning poured out of the Sith's fingertips, but Vader didn't listen. The Sith tracked down his mother, who had been purchased from Watto. She had found a family and somewhere to be happy, before the Tuskens took her. He spared his new in laws, but the same couldn't be said about the Tuskens.

The republic had never managed to free the slave, so how could they justify themselves as being freer than the empire. Yes they were under the control of one person, but that took out the corruption. Sith weren't corrupt, they didn't need money. When he ruled justice would be paramount, he would work to eradicate any forms of slavery left in the galaxy and give the people what they deserve, but he couldn't finished his campaign for a just galaxy until the damn rebels had been dealt with. They had brought war back to the galaxy and they should be ashamed. Didn't they know they couldn't defeat the empire, they couldn't defeat him. He was after all the most power Sith to have ever existed. Sidious previous apprentices had all fallen to the Jedi in battle, but not once had Vader failed to eradicate any Jedi he found. Even the venerated Jedi master Shaak Ti, Kit Fisto and Cin Drallig could stand up to him. They had all tried to kill him after his assault on the temple, they managed to sneak out abandoning their comrades showing their true colors. They had sought revenge trying to infiltrate the senate building to kill Sidious but Vader would have nothing of it. He had sense them leave, he had the clones shoot their speeder out of the air and after he had dealt with the temple he searched for them in the underbelly of Coruscant.

Deep within the underbelly of the city they had ambushed him. Well he did know they were there he just made them think they had the upper hand. He had easily taken out Kit Fisto, before sending Shaak TI falling into the deep places on Coruscant. Drallig had proved to be a welcomed challenge but even his legendary skills with the lightsaber had been no match for Vader's swordsmanship. His adaptation of Juyo and Djem So over powered any attacks the Jedi master had tried on him. Vader despised the Jedi but he did respect a worthy opponent. Drallig had fought valiantly but the dark side was stronger, and it won, it always did. He returned to his master that day triumphant, and he had been naive enough to believe that the Jedi had been eradicated. But they soon sprang up again. Trying to undermine the empire so Vader was sent out to find and kill them, he did so with a ruthless efficiency. The galactic citizens knew him as the Jedi hunter. Anyone caught helping or even talking with a Jedi was at risk of feeling his wrath. People feared him but they also knew that if they followed the law they would remain safe. There were few safe havens for the rebels now. Everywhere they went people turned their backs unwilling to place themselves endanger by helping the outlaws. Still people joined their ranks and Vader still found more and more of them to deal with. Today he could sense that they would find more. The thought of battle brought a sadistic smile to the dark lord's face.

Sure enough after around twenty minutes of him standing on the bridge Admiral Ozzel timidly approached him. "My Lord?" He questioned the Sith who was turned toward the viewport seemingly intrigued by the stars he saw.

"What is it Ozzel?" His deep voice carrying a weight that could frighten any man. Despite being only 22 Vader had the maturity and voice of someone a lot older than himself. His voice latent with the darkness made people fear him but it could also be silky at times. Tempting them to do his will. People found it hard to refuse him, and that was just the way he liked it.

"It appears the fleet commanded by Admiral Hawkens has engaged a large contingent of rebels outside the Dantooine system." Ozzel informed the Sith. "He is requesting backup."

"Is he now?" Vader replied slyly without turning to face the admiral. "Does the admiral overestimate the rebel's abilities or does he underestimate ours."

"I, I don't know my lord." Ozzel stutter. "Perhaps he only wants to make sure the rebels are completely eradicated."

Vader smirked at the timid admiral. He didn't like Ozzel but the man hadn't done anything stupid enough to provoke his anger yet. It was only a matter of time. At least the man has some sort of a brain. "Very well Admirl, take us to Dantooine." Vader ordered. Ozzel bowed as scurried back to the back of the bridge and started ordering around the men.

So he was right, Vader thought. There would be a battle for him today, good. He hadn't had a proper fight in some time. To their credit the rebels had been coming up with more ingenious ways of hiding in the past months but that didn't matter. Vader had thousands of imperial spies, bounty hunters, and various agents out there looking for the rebels. Not to mention the sizable reward on their heads so that every loyal imperial citizen was a spy for him in effect. They all reported to him not the emperor. Of course Sidious had his own network of spies and they would often share information, but the Sith master's spies held another purpose. To keep watch over his apprentice. Vader could point out every one of mist crew members who worked for Sidious. Everyone in a while he would dispose of one or two of them, but in general he left his masters agents alone. After all he had nothing to hide. Sidious was a fool if he thought Vader would share his plans with anyone. But no doubt if the opportunity arose and the found out his true desires they would go running back to the queen bee. So when he was going to perpetrate the coup he would have to be quiet about it.

The stars suddenly popped out stretching out beyond his vison as the executor made the jump into light speed. He quietly turned around and strode off the bridge briskly walking down a few hallways back to his quarters. They were sparse, he had few possessions he didn't need them. Besides, he tore apart his room every other day in rage so any belonging not metal and bolted to the ground was very likely to be destroyed. Often times he would kick the walls with his cybernetic leg and make an indentation that would damage the circuitry in the walls. He sometimes enjoyed having the metal leg, it gave his kicks a brutal edge that often times ended an opponent's life. A kick of the chest would often times break the ribcage and cause internal bleeding. Yes over the year he had had his leg he had grown to like it, but he still remembered who wounded him, who managed to defeat the great lord Vader. Yes the Jedi would pay dearly for that day.

Vader dropped himself carelessly onto the bed and shut the lights out. He might as well get some rest when it was possible. Often times he would not sleep for days on end, trying to power through the exhaustion but even he had his limits. He let the darkness caress his thoughts as he fell into a dark slumber. The darkness held onto him tight as he slept, not willing to let the Sith go for even a brief moment. The currents of power grasp unto his innermost thoughts twisting them into dark designs. He had accepted the darkness at the age of 9 it hadn't let him go since. Maul had found him on Tatooine and had stolen him away from his mother and slavery. One he was grateful for the other only made him hate the Zabrak. Sidious had used that hate to turn him into his greatest apprentice. Anakin Skywalker died a long time ago replaced by Darth Vader. Vader had been Sidious's secret project for years, while Maul tramped around doing the Sith's bidding.

Though Maul made one misstep, during the invasion by the separatist army of Ryloth Maul had been defeated by Jedi Master Mace Windu, though he escaped the separatists lost the planet and Sidious was not please. As a test of strength and a reward to his prodigy he allowed Anakin to battle Maul. He defeated the Sith and afterwards Sidious had told him to kneel. He proclaim that he was a real Sith now and bestowed the tile of Darth Vader upon him. He was only 16 year old at the time. But Sidious had thought it not yet time to revel his greatest weapon to the galaxy yet. Instead he had turned a Jedi named Dooku and used him to further the separatist cause, bring the galaxy further into civil war. And like Maul when Dooku had outlived his usefulness Sidious had Vader kill him. When Vader was 20, Sidious known as Supreme Chancellor Palpatine had reveled Vader sending him to bring the treacherous Jedi to justice and end the war against the separatists. Within months he was a galactic hero.

The darkness soothed his fears away, leaving him as an extremely effective killing machine. The rebels would know his fury. With that the darkness propelled him awake, breathing hard from the sudden awakening his eyes looked around the dark room. Its was almost time. Getting up he smoothed his hair, and put on his usually emotionless face. He made his way out of his quarters and back up to the bridge.

As the executor reverted from hyperspace Vader strode back unto the bridge to begin commending the battle. As he passed through the doors to the command deck he stopped in his tracks, the four high ranking officers standing around deliberating between themselves gave him a quick glance before deciding it was in their best interest to not stare at the dark lord. If they had continued to look at him they would have noticed his face contort into a vile rage. His yellow eyes glowing harsher by the second. He stared across the bridge out the viewport to the ship he knew all too well and the presence he felt on it. Under his breath the sinister rage filled voice of Darth Vader snarled the name of the one person who had managed to defeat him in combat. "Kenobi!"


	2. The Skies of Dantooine

Note from the author:

Hey so I might as well discuss with my readers what the hell I'm doing, and the answer to that is I'm not totally sure. If you enjoyed the prologue enough to click on the second chapter button then congratulations you've made it. The basic premise of the story is that Anakin was raised as a Sith since the age of 9 or so. Currently we are in the Empire period and events in the galaxy have been very similar to those in the movie with a few acceptations. Those acceptations will be explained as the story goes on. I intend to format the story differently that some of you may be used to. Every other chapter or so starting now is going to be set in the past. So as the story in the present progresses you will get to see how all our lovable characters have got to this shit hole they are in now. Fair warning I have no idea how dark this is going to get but you will be warned that I reserve the right to do some pretty dark things. However I will try to stay away from that stuff unless it's absolutely necessary for the story. Aside from that each chapter will be from one characters point of view (sort of). It's going to be a third person limited narrator, if you have any knowledge of what that is great, if not then don't worry about it. You will catch on to the format as you go along. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy.

PS. Also I would like to pre apologize for any grammatical errors. I do write fast and often I will skip over stupid mistakes. If you find them let me know, I am always glade to fix those things.

**Chapter 1: The Skies of Dantooine**

Obi Wan curse under his breath, why didn't we get out of here sooner. They had been planning to abandon their base on Dantooine for some time now. They knew the empire was hot on their trail and it wouldn't be long before they found them. And in the end they did. The alliance had planned to leave not 12 hours after the Imperials first arrived in the system. Kenobi sensed them long before they came into range of the scanners. At the very least they had been mostly packed and ready to go so it wasn't like they were wholly unprepared.

If there was any consolation Vader wasn't here. It appeared to be just another admiral in the Imperial navy. Admirals he could deal with, Vader on the other hand was a slippery slope. The Alliance had had a few close calls with the dark lord in the past. His ruthless tactics were lightning fast often catching them off guards. Yes, they had lost many good men to the dark lord and his navy. But he couldn't focus on Vader now, even with their past history. He needed to be in the present to help the Alliance get away.

The base was sprawled out in a partially subterranean complex on the southern side of the planet near the pole. The winding passageways were generally hard to maneuver in but the Jedi master managed. He had contacted Agen Kolar, a fellow member of what was left of the Jedi council who was helping the Alliance on Dantooine through the force. The Jedi master confirmed the fact that he sense the Imperials in the system. Kenobi ran down the various passages trying to get to the command center of the base.

"Kenobi!" A voice shouted over the crowd rushing through the halls. Kenobi turned to see Vanden Willard rushing towards him. "Kenobi!" he shouted again.

The Jedi walked patiently towards the man, "Yes Williard?"

"Garm Bel Iblis is currently in command of our fleet in orbit, he has requested that either you or Kolar assist him in his fight with the imperials."

"I'll go. Go to the command center and let Kolar know that I am going up to the fleet and that he should supervise the evacuation of the base." Kenobi order and began to turn around changing his path towards the hangar bay.

"Kenobi?" Vanden called after him again. "Is Vader here?"

Kenobi turned around, "No, and thank goodness for that. Now come on we have a battle to focus on here." With that the alliance general seemed to be relieved, and he turned to head towards the command center. Kenobi quickly made his way to one of the shuttles.

"Commander Kenobi will you be joining us?" The pitot asked of him.

"Yes," Kenobi responded calmly. "I need to get up to the ship as quickly as possible."

"Okay," Graham responded. "Were almost loaded up, just give her a minuet and we'll be all set to take off." Kenobi nodded and made his way into the ship finding himself a seat in the cockpit. Letting out a sigh he watched through the view port the hive of activity that was going on in the Alliance hanger. Various pilots and technicians scrambled around moving crates and getting the fighters ready to launch. They knew they didn't have long.

Admiral Iblis would keep the imperials occupied with his fleet but they would still be able to land their troops and make a ground assault attempt on the base. The imperials had grown restless as of late. They wanted more and more to find the Alliance and be done with the rebellion. No doubt because of Vader's impatience to destroy them. If Kenobi had anything to say about it the Alliance would be around fighting the tyranny of the empire for as long as it took.

Graham interrupted the Jedi masters thoughts and he barged into the cockpit and announced, "Well okay then were off." Kenobi smiled and went back to starring out the window observing the fleeing rebels. The transport shuttle gently lifted off the group as its pilot maneuvered the controls. He hovered for a moment or two waiting for the shield doors of the hanger bay to open. The door moved slowly reveling the cool windy autumn day on the planet beyond.

The shuttle blasted quickly out of the hanger faster than Kenobi would have wanted it too. "Watch it Graham." He cautioned the pilot.

"Hey, I know what I'm doing. Besides you said you were in a rush. Wouldn't want to keep the Jedi general waiting." He smiled at him and went back to piloting the craft up through the light clouds in Dantooine's skies and farther out into the atmosphere where the small rebel fleet awaited him. The ragtag cruisers hung in the blackness of space just beyond the planet's sky. Kenobi peered out the window to see three Imperial Star Destroyers looming off in the distance. They were in battle formation, but what are they waiting for? Kenobi asked himself. They should have attacked by now. Indeed he noticed they were moving closer towards the rebel fleet but he had seen plenty of Imperial maneuvers to tell that they were waiting for something. Perhaps reinforcements.

_Kolar. _Kenobi sent the telepathic message over the force to his comrade down on the surface of the planet. _The Imperials are most likely preparing for a group assault, their ships however are waiting up here. In my opinion they must be waiting for reinforcements. _

Kolar took a moment to respond, _perhaps, but it makes no difference just make sure the fleet keeps the Imperial ships occupied to give us enough time to get the transports out of here. _

_Will do. _Kenobi responded, as his shuttle was making its way into the hangar bay of Alliance cruiser Parity. _Kolar, may the force be will you. _

_You too Kenobi_. The master responded before the telepathic link was disconnected as the two Jedi went back to their business. The shuttle lightly touched down on the grey floor of the hangar bay. Kenobi looked at Graham for just a moment, "Thanks," he said before turning to run off the ship.

"Yeah sure!" Kenobi heard as he exited the ship making his way across the small alliance hangar. Various pilots gave him a respectful nod before returning to their work.

The ship was just a busy as the base on the planet below was. The Jedi master threaded his way through the Alliance soldiers making their way to their ships and battle stations. The bridge was the small thing, nothing like the ones on the old republic cruisers, but it served its purpose well. "Ah General!" Iblis called out from across the room. He stood at the far edge of the bridge observing the three menacing star destroyers before them.

"Well what does it look like Admiral?" Kenobi inquired.

"The three star destroyers reverted from hyperspace at 0900 hours this morning. You already know that." The Jedi nodded in response. "They have been holding their position for at least twenty minutes now. They are in fact moving closer as they speak."

"Sir!" One of the bridge operators called. Iblis looked over, "The Imperils are now in firing range."

"Well if we are in firing range they must be in firing range." Kenobi commented as Iblis turned back to the viewport.

"Precisely." Iblis called back to the men, "charge all cannons and put will power to the forward deflector shields. Be prepared to fire at any moment." He again turned back to Kenobi. "If the imperials don't make their move within the next few minutes we may have to go ahead and take the initiative to attack."

"Yes, but they are clearly waiting for something. Whatever that thing…" He got no farther before Iblis interrupted him.

"Yes, yes of course they are waiting for something." The admiral said as if he knew this all along. "They are waiting for the Executor." Kenobi turned immediately after hearing the word.

"Are you sure?" He asked, a puzzled look beginning to show on his face. Reaching up he looked back out the viewport and began to stroke his beard.

"Of course I'm sure!" the Admiral snapped. "Prepare to fire," he called out at his men. "From out intelligence the Executor is the nearest Imperial vessel. When they call for her, and they will call for her, she will make this battle a Bantha of a different color."

"If this is true," Kenobi began stoically. "Then Vader is one his way."

"Yes and if your stories of your past encounters of him are anything to go by he will be more than happy to get his hands on us today. And we mustn't let he do that." The admiral turned around. "Harry!" He order one of the men. "Go and contact General Kolar on the planet. Inform him that the Executor is on her way, and that they better move their asses down there if they want to survive."

The tech nodded and went about his duties. "Well Kenobi?" Iblis rhetorically asked. "As far as I'm conserved we better deal as much damage to these manageable vessels before the Executor arrive. After that these flimsy cruisers won't be of much use to use."

Kenobi nodded keeping his eyes fixed upon the three imperial star destroyers. The admiral sighted in frustration. "Fine then," he said to no one in particular, "well I'll do it my way. Open fire on the enemy vessels!" He ordered his men. The furry of blue energy bolts erupted from the Parity and her two sister ships. The lasers hit the Imperial ships who immediately responded with a deadly barrage of their own. Red and blue energy beams flew back and forth between the enemy vessels.

"You should release the fighters." Kenobi suggested still standing, pondering the battle before him.

"Should I?" Iblis retorted. "Fine. Harry!" He called out at the tech again. Let the pilots know that they are to launch and begin their attack on the Imps." The tech nodded and the admiral turned back to the view port.

"Well Kenobi? What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing," The Jedi replied still thinking to himself. What will happen when Vader arrives? He asked himself. He knew that the dark lord would sense his presence. He knew that since the day he had defeated the man and taken his leg that the Sith would be out for revenge. He had already found two spies in the Alliance who had been sent to report on Kenobi's whereabouts. Vader didn't care so much about the Alliance so much as killing the man who managed to defeat him.

Vader would come for him he knew it. And if he escaped any rebels left would be subjected to the dark lord's wrath. It was an inevitable cause of fighting a man like Vader but he still never like being put in such situations. The bridge of the Parity rocked as more lazar fire hit it. Kenobi turned to see Iblis had left his side. The admiral was walking restlessly around the bridge ordering his troops to be careful.

Kenobi had always thought that Iblis was a bit too cocky for his own good, but the man did have intelligence and he knew how to command a battle which was the important thing. Kenobi always found himself being interrupted by the man, though the Jedi didn't mind. He just wasn't sure whether or not Iblis was the kind of personality conductive to the war effort. The alliance was a team after all, and all Iblis wanted was to win his fights.

"Kenobi!" Iblis shouted across the room. "Don't just stand there do something. There is a battle going on and you're just standing there. Unbelievable." The difference between you and me, Kenobi thought, is that I have patience. His mind retorted to the admiral. What was there for him to do anyway? Fly a fighter? No. Kenobi smiled. He always hated flying never was his thing. Qui-Gon often made note of this during the clone wars. His heart felt a little warmer as his thoughts turned towards his old master.

Yes he was a full Jedi master now, a member of the council no less, but he still though of the man as his master. Or at least a father to him. Qui-Gon had been off for some months with Yoda trying to find a suitable place to begin training a new Jedi order. He frowned. Now that he remembered he hadn't heard for them in over a month. Probably nothing to worry about, but he did anyway. He missed Qui-Gon, they had always been together during the clone wars and now his presence was missed. The presence of the whole Jedi order was missed. All because of that damn Darth Vader.

Jedi weren't supposed to hate, but Kenobi had feelings that could be described as being very close to hatred for Darth Vader. He had a dislike for Maul and Dooku, but both had never done anything half as bad as Vader. The Sith was ruthless, merciless and in general a bad man. Yes he had some sense of justice but that didn't excuse him for thousands of deaths. He basically eradicated the whole Jedi order, Kenobi's family. Vader and his master Sidious were both the problem. And if they could be gotten rid of then the galaxy would be in a much better place.

"Well you'll be happy to note that we are successfully holding our own against the imperials. No thanks to you." Iblis said, breaking Kenobi's reverie.

"That's good." Kenobi replies.

"Of course it's good!" Iblis shouted. "The only problem is that they have already begun landing troops. The people down at the base are going to have a rough time of it."

"I'm sure they can handle it." Kenobi replied heaving a sigh. "Have any of the transports gotten away yet?"

"Yes I believe that transport 1 and 2 have been sent off into hyperspace. However two more transports remain down there along with many fighters. I've been trying to signal them but the empire has jammed our signals now."

"That's fine, I can contact Kolar through the force."

Iblis smiled, "Yes why don't you do that and be useful." Then he turned back to the workers, "More fire power you men, we can't afford to be lax on these imps today!"

Kenobi stretched out his mind through the force and found Kolar. _Kolar, the imperials are sending troops down to your position._

_We are aware. We have sent out a few of the ship to try and deal with the imperial craft. _It's going to be a tough fight trying to hold them back, but we just need a few for minuets to get out of here.

_Hold on Kolar, by the way according to Iblis the Executor should be on her way to our position right now. _

_Yes we received a message before the Imps blocked our signal. Iblis's man Harry told us the news. If that is the case then we best get out of here sooner rather than later. _

_Good Luke Kolar. _With that Kenobi terminated the connection and went back to observing the battle. "Iblis!" He called, trying to tell the man what to do for once. "Tell the Guardian to try and flank the right side of the Imperial forces. We might be able to target their bridge better." Iblis frowned, obviously unhappy that Kenobi was giving him an order but he nodded knowing it was best to agree with the general on these things.

Kenobi smiled, perhaps today wasn't going to be a complete disaster after all. He watched the other alliance ship move forward slightly trying to get a better angle to attack the Imperial's bridge from. The force told him that the battle was in their favor, at least for now. He smiled as the room erupted into clapping as the second to last transport made it away. They only now had to hold on until the next one left before they could make their own escape. The smile on Kenobi's face widened as a large explosion on the port side of one of the Imperial cruisers suffered a large explosion.

But then the force screamed a warning to him. He stumbled as a few shots rocked the bridge, holding himself steady, he shivered unconsciously as the force grew colder. Iblis looked over at the hunched Jedi with a puzzled looked. "What now…" He didn't get any farther when Kenobi replied.

"Vader." And the two of them turned to see the Executor emerge from hyperspace and enter the fray of battle.


	3. The Jedi in the Garden

Note from Author:

Last time I noted that I was going to set half of these chapters in the past. However I think I have found a more clever way to get the past revealed to you my readers. Beyond that I also want to make note that because this is an alternate universe I will every so often create a new character (I promise no Mary Sues) and change existing characters to fit the story and my purposes better. Have fun reading.

* * *

**Chapter 2: The Jedi in the Garden**

Qui-Gon watched the little green Jedi master hobble towards him, his cane making the regular tapping notice as he use it to support himself. It was another day under the watchful eyes of the Empire. After the Jedi purge they had both gone into hiding before forming up with the rest of the remaining council members. There were so few of them left, he mused eyes filled with nostalgic sadness. Longing for those days when everything seemed so much simpler. Heaving a sigh the Jedi continued his ruminations until the grand master stopped his movement and scolded him. "Your thoughts on the present they should be." Yoda chided in his usually light patronizing tone he adopted when scolding the other members of the order.

Qui-Gon knew that Yoda would have scolded him on his thoughts but he didn't really care that much right now. The past wasn't going away, and without it they wouldn't be where they are today. After the Jedi masters had gotten together they went their separate ways each determined to try and bring the galactic empire down and defeat the Sith. Yoda had gone with him so that they could try and find the remaining Jedi before Vader got to them. The pair had succeeded in some respects. They had found some Jedi who managed to escape or hide from the Empire. It was often times a race against the clock to get to some Jedi before Vader found them. Vader, the name left a sower taste in his mouth but still a curiosity was there. Who was he?

Vader hunted Jedi mercilessly. He killed without remorse, and even enjoyed it. Qui-Gon had never had the misfortune to meet him, he had been in the outer rim with Obi Wan at the time of the purge. Both of them had managed to easily evade their clone turncoats and flee the planet before meeting up with Master Yoda. He had heard about Vader's ruthless assault on the temple and the subsequent slaughter of the Separatist council. He and his Jedi companions arrived on Mustafar mere hours after the dark lord had been there. He had witnessed the brutality and horror of the Sith's actions. He had wanted to vomit after seeing such death, but again that one burning question stood out in his mind: what would drive someone to do such a thing? Who was Vader?

"Found a Jedi I have." The little green master said breaking Qui-Gon out of his thoughts. Yoda stood patiently looking up at the Jedi master with his old eyes, waiting. He tapped his stick on the ground trying to summon Jinn's attention.

"Really?" Gin responded suddenly pulling himself away from the thoughts about the Sith. Heaving a sigh he picked himself up from the chair he had been sitting in, towering over the elderly Jedi master. "Well we probably should go and get whomever you have found." Qui-Gon walked over to the bed at the end of the room he was staying in and grabbed the nondescript grey clock and put it on. "Before we go I think I should know who we are going to meet."

"An old friend, yes. An old friend." He replied, revealing nothing of the Jedi's identity.

"For once could you just tell me who it is?" Qui Gon mused. He wasn't annoyed at Yoda, he had gotten used to this kind of behavior from him but it would be nice to get an actually answer every once in a while. "I don't even know how you track down half of these Jedi."

"Look for them in the force I do." Yoda said, amused at his counterpart's annoyance at him.

"Yes but after the purge most Jedi have retreated from the force. They don't want to be found. I have to go out and look for clues to try and find hints of where they may be hiding. Then you come in here and tell me you've found them."

"Complaining are we?"

"No." Came the short response.

"Good, now meet her we will at a local garden. Goes there to clear her head she does."

Well now I know it's a women we are looking for, Jinn thought to himself as he slowly followed the Jedi master out of the hotel they were staying at. Doaba Guerfel was a large resort nestled in the northern mountains on Corellia. The peaceful site was optimal for a Jedi and Jinn had no doubts one of his kind was hiding here, after all the owners of the resort felt it was best to keep the Empire out. However they also felt it was in their best interest to keep the Alliance out as well. They would find no friends here, but they probably wouldn't find any enemies as well.

The cold mountain air was calming. It was the off season, nobody wanted to relax in the snowy mountains when the equatorial region of Corellia would be better. Few people were here. Those who were usually were here because of the snow or the location. In the three days he and master Yoda had been there, he had run into three separate botanists all there to enjoy the unique mountain climate and habitat in the winter. Mountain climbers, and various adventure seekers also made their way up to this remote getaway. In the off season it was a safe refuge for those who wanted to shut themselves off from the outside galaxy.

However just to be on the safe side Qui-Gon moved his gaze and spread his senses to the people and places around him. He sensed their presences and who they were. On this particular day, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. Everyone minding their own business as they usually do in a place like this, and at a time like this. He quickly caught up to Yoda, his long strides cut short to keep from pacing ahead of the small Jedi master.

"Almost there we are." The grand master reassured his companion as he refused to speed up his pace. They wound their way through the frozen pool, the trees devoid of leaves. Past the central building of the resort and through a small tunnel and pathway brought them to the back side of the mountain. They could see south for hundreds of miles here the wind blowing harshly now. The step carve into the side of the mountain wound their way down to a small natural valley carved into the rock. In its shielding care, various plants had spring up and a natural spring fed a small steam that ran down the center of the oasis of sorts.

The resort's garden was a peaceful place as ever. Qui-Gon scolded himself for not checking here earlier. It was the perfect place to find a Jedi. It was calming, serene everything a Jedi would want. Beneath a large outcropping, a rock that hung over a part of the garden, on a small metal bench sat their query. She looked up at the approaching strangers and smiled at the old friends before going back to observing the birds frolicking around the surviving tree's leafs.

Yoda made his way up to her presence where he stopped, patiently placing both of his hands on his cane he waited. Qui-remembered her well. The green skin and complex brown robes. He though back to the day of the purge and tried to remember where Master Luminara Unduli had been. He frowned, his memory fading. Not able to remember where Unduli had been placed before the fall of the republic. So the natural question came to mind: how did she escape when so many others didn't? He held the question on the tip of his tongue, it would have been impolite to interrupt at that moment.

He had asked every Jedi he had found that same questions. It was an ongoing investigation, not to punish those who survived while their comrades didn't, instead it was to figure out how to evade the empire. After tens of responses Jinn was not further to answering that question. Almost every Jedi who had survived had done so in a way that was completely unique to their situation. And generally the key to staying hidden was to find someplace that no one would bother looking, like this.

"Master Yoda," she finally let out turning her warm gaze towards her two old friends. Qui-Gon gave her a small smile and Yoda remained as Yoda always remains.

"Good to see you master Unduli, glade to see you are alive I am." Yoda began.

"Yes," she responded, her smile wavering it was obvious the pain of the past on her mind. "It's good to be with some Jedi again. The force may provide comfort but it's been a bit lonely up here. It's nice to talk with people again."

"Know we were coming you did?" Yoda proposed. It was less of a question and more o a statement of fact that needed confirming.

"Yes." The Jedi admitted. "I had sensed you from the moment you arrive." The question arose in Qui-Gon's mind was if she knew we were here then why didn't she come and find us?

"Seek us out you did not." The Master stated back, putting into words what had been on Qui-Gon's mind.

"No," she said, her gaze flickering back to the beauty of the gardens around her. "I knew you would find me, and don't get me wrong I wanted you too. But I was just beginning to enjoy this garden. It's so peaceful here Master Yoda, if only everywhere could be like this."

Yoda looked around and reached out with the force. Coming to the same conclusion he made his way over to the bench where Unduli was sitting and made a place for himself at the end. She scooted over for the master and turned her gaze back up to Master Jinn. "Looking as stoic as ever Qui-Gon." She commented genially. He nodded in return and began to ask what had been on his mind.

"Luminara," he began but addressing her first name for familiarity purposes. "I don't want to ruin this moment but I would like to know…"

Yoda interrupted him, "Not now Master Jinn, rest we must. Talk of business later."

"No its fine, its best that we talk about it now." She said, defending her own opinion in the matter.

"Relaxing you said this place is. Disturb that relaxation we cannot. Plenty of time to talk later, now we must think." Luminara gave Jinn an eye roll obviously directed at the little green master's stubbornness. Jinn maintained his straight face, while turning to walk around the garden. The new found Jedi master and Yoda meanwhile sat placidly on the bench, they didn't say a word but instead they both found themselves within a moment of peace within the force.

Jinn walked aimlessly around the garden, the cold winter wind reduced but still he hugged himself for warmth. Various small creatures made their homes in the garden. He took note of a few small minnows swimming against the current in the stream. He came to the end of the path, a large rock barged his way. Underneath was a hollow space where the water spilled out of the spring and pooled in the crevasse. Bits of ice floated on the surface and the Jedi master found a spot on the grass o sit down and quietly observe the nature around him.

He closed his eyes and began meditating. The force drew around him, its currents flowing the stream before him. The light side found him quickly, this place was filled with it. But as he stretched his senses out further, out to search for answers in the wide expanse of the universe all he found was darkness. The cold touch of it made him shutter. Yoda would prefer him to stay away from this aspect of the force but he had never listened to him that much. He held the belief that answers came from everywhere. He didn't like the dark side, he never wanted it. But he recognized the need to understand it, so he opened his gaze. The darkness covered almost everything now, few spots of light lit the darkness in the galaxy. Both Sidious and Vader had created a galaxy of fear and control, it stifled the light, preventing it from growing.

From his meditations Jinn found out few key points on the two Sith. One of which perked his curiosity towards the apprentice. It was clear to Jinn that Sidious was the darker of the two, his presence an unwavering uncompromising blackness, but it was also the weaker of the two. Vader's was almost as dark but sparks of light appeared here and there, only to be immediately squashed back into the darkness. His presence in the force was simply massive, almost staggering to comprehend at first. It made the Jedi wonder why he hadn't overthrown his master already. From what the Alliance intelligence had told him, Vader had some sense of justice, not that that would stay his hand from overthrowing the other Sith. Vader was a puzzle, and that only made Jinn wonder more, who was he?

It had been long enough he suddenly though. Picking himself up from his meditations he made his way back towards the two Jedi sitting placidly on the bench. Yoda's ears pricked up at his approach but his eyes remained shut. Jinn expected thins from the grand master, always doing things slowly and the way he wanted them to. But Luminara slowly opened her eyes, gazing at Jinn her face beaming, picking herself up from her own thoughts she turned to the little master beside her. "Master Yoda, I believe that both Master Jinn and I think it would be best if we were to go now."

When he didn't respond for a few moments, she continued. "I think Master Jinn is getting a bit impatient." She turned to him a stoic but cheeky grin lighting up her face. "And I may be as well." She added.

"Yes, Yes." He quickly responded snapping out of his trance. Setting his hand down on the bench he pushed himself slowly off, nails ruffing against the metal. "Let us go. Time for us to talk it is." So now he wants to talk, Qui-Gon mused to himself. Heaving a sigh the three incognito Jedi made their way out of the glade, taking the mountain stairs back up to the valley the resort was located in. "I think it would be best if you came back to our rooms, Master." Jinn suggested. "At least to talk, and then from there we can decide what we want to do."

"That sound good to me. I do hope you have been carful in your stay here." She said obviously referring to any galactic authority who may be looking for them.

"Careful we have been Master Luminara, it is time. Tell us you must, your escape from the empire you will."

"Okay. Let's just get back to the room first." She said as Jinn and herself picked up the pace leaving Yoda behind walking slowly back towards their meeting place.

"Here we are." Qui-Gon proclaimed as their reached the door to his room. With a glance of his hand he unlocked the door pushing it open letting the Jedi master inside. She looked around the room, inspecting it for a chair. "Ah," Jinn said when he realized what she needed. "Here you go." And he brought one of the chairs from the far corner of the room closer to the bed and his desk. "We should probably wait for master Yoda."

Moment later the small Jedi master made his way into the room, and climbed up to the bed where he sat almost cross-legged reading himself for the conversation. Jinn sat at his desk, slightly cluttered with data pads and holodiscs of his investigations to find the surviving Jedi. Leaning forward in his chair he began, "What can you tell us about your activities on the day of the Jedi purge?"


	4. The Discourse of Rebellion

Author's Note:

I apologize to those who have been waiting on me to publish more to the story. I have been a bit busy as of late, but I want to start out new with a new update that will hopefully be the first of many to come out in the next couple of weeks. Hope you enjoy!

**Chapter 3: The Discourse of Rebellion**

The room was in a complete uproar. Bail Organa sat as placidly as a man in his position could at the forefront of this disaster that they called a meeting. Various leaders of the alliances were talking in groups, discussions grew louder and louder and then into full blow arguments on what was to be done. Behind them sat lower ranking officers and members of the Alliance administration, they too were having their own conversations. Back and forth, about this and that but the one idea on everybody's mind: we need to get rid of Vader.

They had received the distress call an hour ago. Their base was too far away from Dantooine to be of any assistance though. All they could do was wait. Bail, Mon, and Amidala had all conversed on what to do when they first heard the news...

"We must act now!" The older Senator exclaimed.

"Mon we can't just afford to jump in, we have no idea how many imperials are in the system. If we go there we could risk our own safety." Amidala countered. She was the youngest of the group by far, though her previous leadership qualifications put her at equal level as the two older Senators were.

"We can't just abandon them there! Those are our soldiers. Besides the distress call we received from Iblis said their were only three star destroyers."

"Three?" Padme exclaimed sarcastically. "Since when has three fully equipped star destroyers ever been an easy thing for us to deal with."

"I understand Padme," Mon calmed. "But I do not like the thought of leaving them there to fend for themselves. We have a duty to help them."

"As it stands for the moment I agree Mon, but we wouldn't get there in time. But the time any of our ships could reach Dantooine the battle would be long over with."

Mon made a move to make a comment but none came, and she remained silent. "I don't like it any more than you. The situation could still be worse, but I have the utmost confidence that Kenobi and Kolar can handle the evacuation with minimal casualties. Iblis just needs to hold them off till the base has evacuated."

"Fine." Mon conceded. "But we still need to have a meeting to discuss this turn of events. How did the empire find our base there in the first place. We were leaving, yes, but we had no knowledge the base had been compromised yet."

"I don't know, but we need to be sure that none of our intel has leaked." Padme added. "We don't want this incident spiralling out of control."

Bail let out a low grumble at the disorderly assembly. Everything had been going so well when we started, he remembered. Mon had called the meeting, both she and Padme wanted to get down to the business of dealing with the repercussions of this attack. Attacks by the Empire were a frequent thing, but not at a major base. Never before had the Empire stumbled upon one of their main facilities. They had all been so careful about maintaining their location's secrecy. Either this was a coincidence or the Empire had inside information. Bail hoped the first was what happened, though he knew it was only a matter of time before the Empire caught on to them.

Before this they had always managed to stay ahead of the game. Always evacuating a base just before the imperials managed to find it. That was what was happening at the Dantooine base today, however the empire got there just 12 hours too early. Mon had suggested that Dantooine was no longer safe, so they decided to move. Not quick enough though, Bail thought.

As the meeting with the various alliance leaders and intelligence officers was going on they receive constant updates from Iblis on the status of the battle. Some of the base had managed to evacuate already. This news brought a smile to the faces of the assemblage. Iblis and Kenobi had managed to hold the Imperials at bay. Another piece of good news. Then the bad news started coming.

"Its the executor." Kenobi sent. They all knew what that meant.

The room went silents: "We are losing ground." Came the next report.

The people in the meeting room leaned in closer to the holo, waiting for their comrades next transmission: "Vader has managed to land troop on the ground, the base will soon come under Imperial fire."

Then it was: "The Imperials has broken off a destroyer and have proceeded to bomb the surface."

A minute or so later came a final announcement from Admiral Iblis: "One transport gone."

After that the connection had gone blank. "It appears the Imperials are jamming their signal now Sir." the tech informed Bail who presently turned back to the assembly, who were already up on their feet talking with each other. Bail knew they were all angry. But there was also fear. Vader had done so much damage in the past, could anybody manage to escape his today? How many would manage to get out? Would there even be survivors?

Bail looked at Mon who returned with a cold knowing stare that seemed to say, "I told you."

Mon had previously wanted to send assassins out to kill Vader, the Jedi advised against it as they would never succeed. Mon had quickly pointed out after that, that assassins had managed to kill Jedi during the clone wars. Why would Vader be any different? To which the Jedi responded with some argument about the Sith and the force and things that Bail left up to them. He always sided with the Jedi on the matters pertaining to the Sith and most other matters in general. Mon found it frustrating, he knew, but never the less the Jedi were usually right when it came to these kinds of things.

But the look Mon gave him right now seemed to say that they needed to deal with Vader now. No matter the cost, and Bail was starting to agree.

After the meeting had dissolved into chaos many of the alliance leaders left the room, leaving the rest of the bunch to continue their shouting match by themselves. Padme found herself walking along the crisp white halls to Bail's room. She saw him slip out around the time she did and it was the first logical place to check for him. Rounding the corner she stopped by the door pressing the button to announce her arrival.

With a quick swish the door opened to reveal Bail welcoming her in and Jedi Master Plo Koon on the far side of the room. The master was sitting placidly at the far end of the room on a chair facing out the window into space. The Kel Dor turned his head at her arrival and gave a nod of acknowledgment. "Well that could of gone better." Padme awkwardly said as she entered the room.

Bail smiled in return, "Yes, you're right about that. Master Plo and I were just discussing a proposition that Mon made to me a while ago."

"Oh and what might that be?" The young Alliance Senator inquired. Bail gave a worried look and went back to the table by the window taking the seat opposite the Jedi master and indicated that Padme should take the open chair.

"Mon Mothma believes it to be the wisest course of action would be to make it our priority to kill Darth Vader." The jedi bluntly put before Padme had time to sit. The woman looked back to Bail and then back to the Jedi master.

"I'm sorry?" She asked. The topic of killing the Sith Lord had come up before but Master Yoda was always there to shoot Mon down. Padme knew that Mon strove to free the galaxy from the rule of the Sith, and that she was particularly dedicated to eradicating its two leading men. The last time Mon brought the topic up was no different than the time before that. And as always the same explanation as to why this was a foolhardy move was given by the Jedi. Vader is a Sith, and as a result he is incredibly hard to kill. Who would take on such a task. Bounty hunter's they have a thing going for them in the Empire, why would they help us. Besides, Vader knows all the good ones anyway.

Mon would often suggest that they lay a trap for the Sith. Trick him to his doom, but again she was shot down. The Sith like the Jedi have a connection to the force, laying a trap would be difficult on its own and besides he would just sense the oncoming danger.

"This time she is adamant. She says that while she understands the challenge it is never the less a task we must undertake if we want to win this war."

Padme looked over at the Jedi master who gave no recognition to the conversation, he just continued to stare out the window. "Master Koon and I were just discussing the possible disadvantages to such an action."

"So I am assuming," she began, "that the Jedi are still opposed to the idea."

"We are not so much opposed as we are cautiously warning against such an action."

"They believe that any attempt on Vader's life would just make him more angry which could have possible negative repercussions for the Alliance." Bail added. He heaved a sigh and restlessly drummed his fingers on the table. "You know I hate this Padme. Everything we have gotten ourselves into and its only our fault."

"Don't say that." She consoled.

"No, its true I don't know how we didn't see Sidious all that time but we didn't. And now that we screwed up it is our duty to try and fix it." The young senator nodded in agreement wondering where this was going. "I am thinking about granting Mon's request to start operations up on taking out Darth Vader."

"What?" Padme exclaimed. Not that she was opposed to the idea, the problem was that this was so different than what they had discussed before. She never thought that Bail would give into Mon's designs. "But what about before?"

"Circumstances have changed. After today's attack it is becoming increasingly hard to justify at least not trying to kill the man."

Padme looked away, back at the Jedi master. "Are you going to go along with this Master Jedi?"

Plo Koon sighed and slowly turned his head to look at Padme. His tired face spoke volumes to her. "The position of the Jedi has not changed Ms. Amidala. Vader cannot be killed by normal means, he has fought with the best of us and has come out on top. Only Master Kenobi has ever bested him."

"Still isn't it possible that an assassin might slip past his defenses, and what about Master Kenobi, couldn't he try and confront the Sith again?"

"I suppose its possible." The Jedi mused. "Though highly unlikely and most of a waste of human life. Our resources could be better spend." He paused before continuing on, thinking about Kenobi and the details of his fight. "As for Master Kenobi, he has expressed no wish to face Vader again. And according to his account his victory can only be accounted for by chance. We cannot afford to lose more Jedi. Especially not one as honorable as Master Kenobi."

"The Jedi have a point Padme." Bail agreed. "But it is public opinion that is forcing my hand. This recent attack has really stirred up peoples anger at the empire and specifically at Vader."

"So now you are just bending to the will of the masses. What happened to being a strong leader, doing what's right and not whatever vindictive desires the people want."

Bail looked down, obviously a bit hurt by her attack. "Padme. You must understand, we cannot afford to be split on this issue. The alliance is already in a tenuous position as it is, we cannot be fighting amongst ourselves. If this is what everybody wants then I will not stand in their way."

"It's not an ideal situation." She warned.

"It never is. Before we can continue though it has to go through the council."

" It will win any vote." Padme assured.

"I know. I just hope we are doing the right thing. We've made so many mistakes in the past years. I just hope that this isn't another one of them."


	5. The Senator From Kuat

Authors note:

This is a fic. So I reserve the right to change anything to fit my own needs for the story. Okay now onto the story. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 4: The Senator From Kuat**

Luminara sat calmly on the chair in the room facing the other two Jedi masters. Both Master Yoda and Jinn sat patiently across from her awaiting her response. "What can you tell us about your activities on the day of the Jedi purge" She remembered him asking. What could she remember about that day, did she really want to remember any of it. If they had been in her shoes they might not of been so keen to recall the events of that night. Still she owed it to them, so she delved into the recesses of her mind where she had hidden away those terrible memories and began to recall.

* * *

Luminara leisurely strolled down the long hallways of the Jedi temple. The early morning sun on Coruscant shining through the large windows illuminating the masses of knights and padawans scattered throughout the hall. Meditating, learning, teaching, doing whatever their will had set for that on that particular morning. Unlike the knight, or padawans in training Luminara had business to go about.

There seemed to be no rest of the masters of the Jedi order these days. The war had taken a lot out of the order, both physically and mentally. Luminara could feel it, the cold inhospitable aura that had come to reside over the capital. She longed to be out on a peaceful planet, in the open air, once again. Before the war she would often go out to one of the retreats the Jedi had on other planets to relax and be with the force. She was a good fighter, but a peace lover as all Jedi were in their hearts.

Todays activities consisted of an early morning Jedi Council meeting. then she was expected at the senate building. Another meeting with a group of senators, then a meeting with the Supreme Chancellor. It was like many of the other days. Luminara scowled at having to stay on Coruscant for another month. Being with the politicians everyday was not what she wanted to be doing.

The council chambers were empty when she arrived. Most of them were away fighting.

Master Windu and a holo of Grand Master Yoda stood off to the side talking amongst themselves. Kit Fisto, Adi Gallia, and Ki-Adi-Mundi sat around the circle talking across the room.

As Luminara entered they all looked over and gave a polite acknowledgement of her presence and started to settle down. Windu took his seat and Luminara did as well. The holograms of the other Masters slowly flickered into their chairs, and the meeting started.

"Not much to say this morning there is." Yoda began. "The battle for Kashyyyk is underway and the clones making progress they are. Though much resistance from Separatists we have found. News is there to share from the rest of you?" He asked.

Kenobi holo sat up in his chair as he cleared his throat, "Master Jinn and I are currently formulating a strategy for taking Utapau. The assault should catch them off guard and I will report in with any developments as the battle commences."

"Very good Master Kenobi," Windu took over. "Master Kolar, what news is there from the assault of Cato Neimoidia?"

Luminara shifted uneasily in her place. They are ignoring it again. It had been a week since Count Dooku had mysteriously disappeared. There had been no sign of him, and despite what intelligence they gathered Luminara knew something was up. Biting her lip she waited patiently until Kolar was done with his report on the assault of Cato Neimoidia.

"The assault goes well. We have landed in quadrant three and six. Our six ships appear to be enough to deal with the Separatist forces. We are currently engaging with them in the space above the planet and our ground troops appear to be making headway. However because of the rough urrain we are going very slowly and the clones are taking some very heavy casualties."

"Casualties were to be expected Master Kolar. After all this is the homeworld of the Neimoidians. We knew they weren't going to give it up without a fight."

"Yes," Agreed Fisto. "But Kolar, do you think you have enough troops. There is a possibility we may be able to send some more. This is a battle we cannot afford to lose."

"If you can spare them we probably will need all the help we can get. Though I do not want to divert needed forces from elsewhere. Like I said the clones are making headway and we appear to be gaining ground against the Separatist fleet in space."

Yoda nodded his head and then spoke, "Help you we can. Talk with Admiral Tarkin we will to send you more troops. Now onto..."

"Master Yoda." Luminara interrupted. "If you don't mind I think we are ignoring a very important subject." The little green Jedi perked his ears up. Not just anyone would interrupt the grandmaster. Luminara suddenly became aware of the eyes of the room on her, but she proceeded calmly.

"We received intelligence not a week ago that Count Dooku has gone missing. Even among the Separatists there seems to be no knowledge of him." The room uneasily shifted at the mention of the Count. It was a topic they all knew needed to be discussed but as Jedi Masters they were all experts at putting off things they didn't want to deal with.

Yoda sighed, "Yes, perhaps time it is to discuss the matter."

"Well I think its a damn good thing." Belted out Kolar. "What does it matter where the Sith has gone the point is he is gone!"

"Yes, but why?" Kenobi questioned. "I agree with Luminara we have put this off for far too long. Dooku is the leader of the separatists. If they do not know where he is then should that not be cause for concern. For all intensive purposes the Separatists are now in the hands of Grievous, that is a power shift we cannot ignore."

"It would appear to Dooku is dead." Windu put bluntly.

"Yes but do we know for sure?" Luminara questioned.

"No, but someone like him doesn't just disappear for a few days. Besides it appears the Separatists have already replaced him with Grievous. Is that not proof enough that he is gone. While alive Dooku would never allow that robot to take his place."

"Then if that is the case Master Windu then who could of killed him?" Kenobi asked.

"Perhaps it was Sidious?" Kolar thought.

"No! No!" Master Yoda exclaimed. "Do this Sidious would not. Kill his own apprentice he would not."

"There perhaps someone has managed to kill the Count. Perhaps Sidious has found a new apprentice to take his place." Kenobi speculated. The council members eyed each other, wondering about the implications of the second idea.

"If found a new apprentice Sidious has, careful we must be." Yoda cautioned.

"I agree," added Master Windu. "As long as we do not know who his new apprentice is we must be on our guard."

"Yes but why have the new apprentice kill Dooku now? At the height of the war? Sidious would want someone experienced, now the Separatists are losing direction with Grievous in charge. The facts don't add up." Luminara questioned further.

"But this is all we know right now. Its just pointless speculation." Mundi returned. Luminara moved forward in her seat to make an argument against that but Master Windu beat her to the response.

"Right now I think we have come to the proper conclusions. We must be weary in this time. We will have the Republic intelligence network try and figure out what is happening with the Separatist power structure. Until then there is nothing more to say on the topic. Do you agree master Yoda." The green Jedi looked puzzled for a moment before he slowly nodded his head in agreement. Luminara scowled but said nothing. She knew that Windu was probably right but something about it just didn't seem right to her.

"Onto our next topic." Master Windu moved. "The Chancellor's representative wished to speak with us this morning. We have him waiting on the holo-com." The mention of the Chancellor's representative had mixed reactions amongst the members of the council. He was a popular Senator from Kuat. He was publicly in support of the Jedi and the Chancellor, a delicate balance to walk. While at the same time he had the interests of the Kuat Drive Yards in mind.

He played an interesting political game, and on top of that he was rather new. The previous senator from Kuat Giddean Danu had been too publicly in support of the Jedi and against the war. It cost him his job. The new Senator was smart, the Jedi gave him that. While Kenobi and Fisto liked the brash everyday politics he preached some of the other Jedi disliked him. He seemed to rub them the wrong way, and Windu just didn't like the fact that Palpatine was trying to get his fingers in the Order.

"Very good." Master Yoda responded to Windu. "Put the Senator through." In the center of the room the blue holo of the tall Senator appeared. "Senator Skywalker, goodmorning."

* * *

"Know this I do." Master Yoda exclaimed to Luminara. Interrupting her tale. "There I was, remember you clearly do." Luminara gave Yoda a look that even Qui Gon couldn't describe.

"Yes but that's not the point Master Yoda." She quickly responded. "While we both know the general events of that day, do you know what I was doing?"

"No, but the conversation in the council chamber retell you do not need to."

The Jedi master sighed, "If you would be so kind I would like to tell the story of that day from my perspective. After all that is what you asked of me."

"Yes it is." Jinn added in, "If you think that the council meeting that day has important bearing on our investigation then please continue." Jinn looked over at Yoda and silently told him to be patient, just as the Master had done to him so many times.

Luminara took a calming breath and then continued...

* * *

"Goodmorning." The deep voice responded.

"Why have you contacted us this morning?" Windu quickly and very strictly asked of the man before them. Windu was always quick to business with the Chancellors representative.

"Well Master Jedi as you well know Master Kenobi and Clone commander Cody are currently underway to Utapau to confront General Grievous."

"Yes we are aware. We have just been discussing with Kenobi that subject." Windu said.

"Kenobi seems confident that he and Master Jinn along with the clones will be able to take the planet." Mundi added.

"Yes I know we all here at the Senate have the utmost faith in the great general Kenobi. But as it so happens the Chancellor just recently received a transmission from the Intelligence Department. Apparently in the upper circles of the Separatists Grievous is the official head of state." A quick murmuring went up over the council but a quick cold stare from Windu called off the talking.

"This is most interesting news." Luminara added.

And Yoda quickly followed, "Yes, talking about the subject of Dooku's disappearance we just were."

"Ah yes, the Chancellor and I are quite interested to hear what you have to say on the matter. After all the resident Sith lord of the Separatists just leaving does seem like it is a very important development."

* * *

Luminara paused in her story for a moment and looked over at Master Yoda. Who despite his best efforts to keep interested was twirling his walking stick and had the look that an old person gets when they think they know everything.

"Here Master Yoda is where you will be interested to know that I first had the idea to go and see the Senator for myself." Yoda perked his ears up and Qui Gon leaned forward in his chair.

"What did you say?" He asked.

"Well I thought that the council wasn't properly handling the fact that one of the Sith lords had gone missing so I thought that Skywalker would be the perfect person to talk to on the subject."

"Incredibly dangerous that was." Yoda remarked.

"Yes but not at the time." Luminara replied. "If you recall all the Senator was to us at the time was a normal Senator. He was just another politician. The only difference was that he had direct contact with the Jedi council and served as an intermediary between the Council and the Chancellor. There was nothing suspicious at the time."

"Yes we completely understand," Jinn consoled. "But why did you feel it necessary to go to Skywalker and not bring it up again in the council?"

"Master Jinn when a topic has already been discussed in a meeting and unless there is new information on the subject it generally is bad form to bring it back up."

"I get you point."

"But with all that being said. I believe it was my choice to go and see him that day that ended up saving my life."


	6. Organizing An Escape

Author's Note: Thanks to those of you who have reviewed the story so far. You gave me a bit of inspiration to continue on. If you like the story or have any comments please write a review. They are really nice to read and help motivate me to post faster. Any constructive criticism is really great to get. Thanks and I hope you enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 5: Organizing An Escape**

Battle is a messy thing. Especially in space. Kenobi never liked flying and having hundreds of TIE fighters coming at you in a poorly equipped Alliance ship was not helping improve this opinion. The ship rocked every time there came a barrage from the enemy ships. One of the three Alliance Cruisers, the Albatross, was already taking damage. Kenobi noticed it quickly that the Empire was going after their largest vessel.

The Alliance officials on the Albatross were constantly sending messages back and forth between the ships. They complained of large power failures, targeted imperial attacks. Kenobi knew that the ship couldn't hold out for much long, and the rest of the fleet wouldn't be able to hold on much longer after that.

The laser fire filled the air, on the battlefield in space. Alliance fighters were zooming this way and that, trying to tackle the masses of TIE fighters the Empire was pouring into the fight. With the arrival of the Executor, even more were added to the fray. The Alliance fleet was making the best of the situation but that wasn't very much at all.

Kenobi eyed the Executor, its hulking grey mass hiding behind the three other imperial destroyers. The massive ship hung there, ominously, threatening the Alliance with every moment of its existence. Kenobi knew Vader was there, he knew the Sith was there the moment he entered the system.

It was the oddest thing, Kenobi thought to himself. I barely knew him as a senator, but I liked him enough. But ever since our battle on Mustafar we have had this connection, almost like the force and our fates are pulling us together. He still hated the Sith's guts. He knew he wasn't supposed to hate, but in this scenario it would be forgiven.

Far off the three imperial ships moved forward towards the mirroring rebel fleet. Behind them the Executor stood stone still. Unwavering, unbroken, powerful. Kenobi watched it carefully while trying to manage the battle around him. Garm Bel Iblis was handling the battle well enough, which allowed Kenobi a few moments to meditate on the situation. Master Yoda had always taught him to remain calm and think ahead in the heat of battle. Trust the force.

For the most part Kenobi tried to follow the rules of the Jedi order, but he still had a lot of his master in him. Kenobi sighed, wishing he was with Yoda and Qui Gon looking for surviving Jedi.

The wasn't their only purpose though. Qui Gon had told him that he also wanted to piece together the events preceding the fall of the republic. His master saw that there was something important in those days preceding the fall. He thought there might be something they could use against the Sith, but he didn't see it. It wasn't worth investigating. That was the past, all that mattered now was the survival of the Alliance, the Jedi order, and the defeat of the Sith and their Empire.

"Kenobi!" Garm shouted over the heat of the battle. Kenobi calmly looked over at the Alliance general who pointed out the window. The Jedi looked out, the star destroyers had advance but that wasn't it. Behind them, legions of transport vessels and bombers poured out of the Executor's hangers.

"That is a lot of ships." Garm observed. "We must warn the surface somehow."

"Sir that might be impossible." The tech responded.

"Why?"

"Well Sir. the imperials have been jamming our signal to the planet. Any new info we get comes from the fleeing transports." Garm angrily sighed and approached the front of the ship where Kenobi was.

"There going down to the surface." Kenobi muttered.

"They will be slaughtered." Garm angrily accused of the Imperial ships before him.

"I know." The Jedi said in a quiet, solemn voice.

Garm turned toward the Jedi and grabbed his shoulder. "We have to help them!"

"How?" Kenobi calmly replied.

"I don't know, send some ships. Something!" He pleaded. "Kolar and Willard are down there, with many of our men. We still have two transports to see away."

"You don't think I know that? Garm." Kenobi placated. "We can't afford to help them. The best thing we can do is to hold off the fleet from making a full fledged assault on the ground and wait until the transports are away. That's all, we must wait for them."

"That's all." Garm repeated hesitantly, and Kenobi nodded slowly. "Right then, I will get back to work."

Garm walked back to the hub of active, "Get me communications with the transports, and get the Albatross on the line. We need to direct the Imperial's fire away from her now!" He ordered. All the while the battle raged on.

* * *

From beneath the shadowed hood, Vader gave a twisted smile. He was having fun. At least most fun than he had in a while. The Alliance had stopped using Jedi in most of their battles clearly deeming them to be worthy of saving, and now here he was. Battling Kenobi once again. Vader sneered at the thought of the Jedi.

The bridge of the Executor was a fire with activity. Imperial officers were furiously working to coordinate the attack. Admiral Ozzel, was overseeing the operation the back, handing out orders and taking them every-so-often from the Sith.

Vader stood mostly still at the front of the bridge watching the fight before him. Ozzel had taken the orders rather well this time. The three smaller imperials ships had advanced to give the Executor cover to release the ground forces that would take care of the base. Once they were done exiting the ship, Vader had order them to attack with full speed.

Vader watched, almost gleefully at the Imperials hacked away at the rebels. This battle was going to be too easy the Sith thought to himself. To be honest he was a bit disappointed. He expected more of Kenobi, but if the Jedi was going to make it easy for him there would be no complaints.

The three destroyers were doing marvelously with his orders. They were targeting the rebel ships one at the time. They had to quickly disable the largest of the rebel ships to effectively nullify their naval power in the battle.

"My Lord." Ozzel hesitantly asked from behind the Sith.

"What is it?" Vader darkly muttered.

"Uhh, the grounds troops have all been sent off. Do you want us to proceed to attack speed?"

Vader paused, looking out at the pathetic rebels. He took a moment to imagine their defeat and responded. "Yes Admiral, that is exactly what I want."

Ozzel nodded and turned to walk away but the Sith wasn't done yet, "Ozzel" he ordered. "Don't mess this up." Ozzel shakily nodded and talked back to give more orders.

The Sith turned his attention back to the battle. Normally he would be much more active in giving orders, but this was a simple game. The Jedi would be defeated, they had nowhere to go, and he wanted to pay attention to every moment of their suffering. And when Kenobi was defeated he would take personal charge in destroying every remnant of the rebels on the planet below.

* * *

The Alliance base was a disaster. After the arrival of the Imperials everyone had panicked. They had prepared for such an event, but preparation was often very different from the real thing. The alliance command held together very well which was the only reason why the evacuation was going as smoothly as it could go in these circumstances.

The Jedi Master Agen Kolar had taken up the vast majority of the command and was still in the base's command structure with Vanden Willard and some of the elite Alliance troops. From there they oversaw the whole operation. Kolar had sent out the other generals, and commanders to the various areas in the base to oversee the evacuation. From the command post he could contact each one and get a quick status update.

Despite this, they still had members of the Alliance running around as if they had been caught with their pants down. Groups of starfighters were taking off in random patterns. The effort to finish loading the transports had deteriorated to stuffing everything in and hoping its all okay. Part of the base were already being bombed, though the Alliance was doing all it could to stop the enemy fighters. Electrical equipment was everywhere and already a few bodies lay under collapsed tunnels.

"What do you mean you don't know where the hyperdrive is?" One of the captains in the command post yelled at the reporting Alliance member on the other end. "Well go and find it before you get your ass blown up!"

"What is it Kevin?" Willard calmly asked.

"The idiots down in hanger two seem to of misplaced the hyperdrive for the transport. How does one do that?!"

"I don't know, just contact the next officer and have them report in."

Kevin barley calmed down, "Sure. Maybe the next one will know where their damn hyperdrive is."

Willard walked over to Kolar who was inspecting the tactical map of the base and the reports they were getting. "Well it appear that transport 4 has misplaced their hyperdrive, and transport 5 is still being loaded."

"We don't have time for this." Kolar gruffly mumbled.

"Well at least the other three are away. And it appears that transport 6 will be off and away within moments." Willard turned back to Kevin. "Kevin!"

"What!" Came the response in a tone that most commanders weren't used to.

"Have group 6 check in yet."

"You just asked me to do that, force I can't do everything at once, give me a moment."

"He does well under stress." Willard mused turning back to the Jedi.

"We all are under stress, but some of us handle it better than others. We have almost complete chaos down at group 5, I'm hoping they can get their act together quickly." He turned around and stared at the fast working Kevin, "At least he is working hard."

"Sir!" Came a call from another of the officers in the command center. "I just got word from group 4 that they have found the hyperdrive." He reported.

"Very good Jane. Tell them to launch as soon as they have everything ready. We cannot waste a moment." Kolar ordered.

"How do you misplaced a freaking hyperdrive!" Came a call from across the room.

"Focus on your work Kevin." Willard harshly ordered.

Kolar turned back to the tactical map of the area. "It appears they Imperials are focusing their efforts on the northern side of the base."

"Would make since," Vanden replied. "But what about the south hanger? Have they target that yet. We have the 4th and 5th transports coming from there, We wouldn't want them to get trapped."

"No," Kolar pondered. "To be honest I'm not entirely sure on what the Empire is doing here."

"Either way Kenobi can't hold the fleet off for too much longer up there. At some point he is going to have to give the call to retreat, he knows as well as we do that the alliance can't afford to lose those three battle cruisers."

"Then that leaves the possibility of us having to get out on our own. I have thought about this."

"If Kenobi can hold out for just ten more minutes I believe that we can have the last three transports away."

"Sir!" called Kevin. "Transport 6 and their guard is now leaving hanger number 4."

"Very good, Kevin. Monitor transport 5 now. And Jane, continue monitoring transport 4." He ordered. All the while a few other officers bustled about the room, going about the business of getting all the fighter squadrons up out. And there still was the business of getting the remaining people out before the Imperials started to invade the base with manpower.

"There still are a lot of people here." Vanden cautioned.

"Yes there are."

"We are responsible for them Kolar. We have to make sure they get out alive, and if possible I would like to survive this too."

"We will try our best." Kolar unhelpfully muttered.

"Well I hope you have a plan."

"I do. But if it will work, I don't know." Kolar grimly started, watching the evacuation unfold before him.

* * *

The ship rocked as it was hit with another barage of fire from the Imperial ships. Damn them, Kenobi thought. This was all going so well until they arrived. Then again that would sum up every situation involving the Empire. The republic was a great place. It had problems but the Sith ruined any chance at true democratic reform.

Kenobi eyed the Executor as it made its way around the other three imperial destroyers. He knew where it was going. Positioning the massive ship behind three other cruisers wouldn't be the most effective placing. Vader was trying to out flank them, and it was rather easy to tell. They only problem was that they were being pinned down by the other Imperials.

We need to get out of here.

They were trying to give Kolar and Willard the maximum amount of time possible to allow the people on the planet to escape, but the time they had was quickly coming to an end.

"Garm!" He called out to the other Alliance commander. "We need to leave." The commander walked quickly over to where Kenobi was at the forefront of the bridge.

"We can't right now. There still are three transports down on the planet, abandoning them isn't an option."

"But if we don't start moving the Executor will be in range to start pulling us. How long do you think we can last under that kind of firepower."

"I know. I'm just worried about Kolar and Willard."

"I am too, but right now we need to try and find a way out of our position."

"Well it will be tough. The three imperial destroyers have us pinned down pretty well. If we try to turn to escape we will sustain some very heavy damages." He looked out the window at the other two Alliance ships. "And I'm not sure the Albatross can handle any more."

"Well we could have the Albatross escape behind us. Have it use the two other Alliance ships as cover. If we got them out then we would have more room to maneuver, and hopefully escape."

"It might just work. As this point I think we just need to go for it. If you are okay with leaving them down on the planet, then we should do it."

"I'm not comfortable with it Garm. I just don't see another way."

"I know."

"Lets begin." Kenobi confirmed. "Have the Albatross use us as cover and then we can try and create some kind of diversion to escape."

"Very good." Garm said, walking back to give orders to the rest of the bridge.

* * *

The Executor moved slowly, that was her one weakness. All the firepower any commander could want, but the damn thing just moved so slow. That was the price of ultimate power. Vader walked back and forth in the front of the bridge, constantly watching the rebels. They would try to escape, Vader knew that, but once he had them in range the Executor could make quick work of the under armed rebel ships.

Vader sneered at the insolence of the rebels. His impatience grew with each passing moment watching them gets slowly closer. "Ozzel!" he yelled which cause the man to practically jump in the air. "Can we go any faster?"

"Uhh..." Ozzel began, hesitating to give the Dark Lord an answer. "Not really my Lord, we are pushing her as fast as we can."

Vader grunted in disgust. He would just have to wait.

"Admiral, when we have properly flanked the rebels, open fire immediately on the rebel ship number three. The one the other Star Destroyers are focusing on."

"Yes, Sir. We can start now if you wish."

"No!" Vader snapped. "If we do that we risk hitting our other ships. No wait for us to get into position."

"Yes Sir." The admiral agreed, and went back to his job.

Vader turned back to the view of the battle. The third rebel ship began to move. What are they doing? He thought to himself. The rebel ship slowly turned round and started to maneuver itself behind the other two rebel ships.

"Admiral! Speed things up, the rebels are trying to escape."

Damn Kenobi. Vader curse. He was well aware of what the Jedi was doing. If they managed to get the large rebel ship out of them, it would free up room for them to quickly maneuver out of there. If the Executor did not get into position quickly then the Jedi would be lost.

Vader watched, helpless as the third rebel ship, burning and damaged move farther away behind the cover provided by the other part of the rebel fleet.

"Sir, there is another rebel transport. Should we pursue?" Ozzel called out.

Why now! Vader cursed again, this wasn't going how he wanted it. "No stick on the rebel fleet. We should be in position now, open fire on the second rebel ship. Aim for their hyperdrive, ensure they cannot escape."

Vader watched, sneering at the image before him at the rebel transport and ship disappeared into hyperspace behind him. He wouldn't let the others get away. The Executor's cannons opened fire on the rebel ships. Vader smiled, gaining some satisfaction with the clear damage he was doing with to the rebellion.

"Sir the other rebel ships are attempting to leave the system." Ozzel unnecessarily notified him. The two slowly turned around and began making their way toward freedom.

"Focus fire, make sure they don't escape!" Vader yelled, eyes blazing with hatred. Both rebel ships rocked under the massive amounts of imperial fire power hailing down on them. The second rebel ship's engines began to burn with a satisfying light to the Dark Lord.

"My Lord, we have crippled one of the rebel ships."

"Continue firing on the other one, make sure it does not leave the system." He ordered. But it was too late. Vader turned back to watch as Kenobi's ships make the jump to hyperspace. Vader yelled out and slammed the window with his hand, cracking the surface. He had missed Kenobi once again. Breathing heaving with his anger, he turned and began to stride off the bridge. "Destroy the other rebel ship and anything that takes off from the planet. I am going down, and will led the assault personally."


	7. Differences of Opinion

Authors Note: As an Author I do reserve the right to change the character of a person from the cannon. Furthermore as this is an alternate universe events will be difference. Things may come up that will create questions, but I assure you I do that on purpose. Any questions raised will eventually be answered as the story progresses, so patience is the key here. The story is in the suspense category for a reason. Oh and I will try not to leave every chapter off on a cliff hanger, I find that when every chapter ends like that I find it increasingly frustration. However if used sparingly it can be lots of fun. With all that being said I hope you enjoy, and if you feel up to it leave a review. Thanks for reading. Oh and May the 4th be with you!

* * *

**Chapter 6: Differences of Opinion **

Bail Organa sat quietly in his office in the rebel base on Gamorr. He was leaning back, eyes up to the ceiling a data pad resting on his stomach. Breathing heavily Bail waited. Waited for any sign, and new information about their forces on Dantooine. It had been an hour or so after his meeting with Padme and Plo Koon when he had finally shook off all of the officers and men who wanted to know if he had any new info on the battle. He told them all he knew, nothing.

Bail was just as worried as all of them, but after dealing with the masses it tired him out. When he finally got back to his quarters, he contemplated falling asleep. He knew there were bag under his eyes. Being one of the major leaders of the Alliance requires a lot of work, and the past 48 hours he hadn't seen any sleep. The idea of sleep beckoned him, back also he couldn't satisfy that desire. Not yet. He probably wouldn't get any sleep anyway till he heard something from Dantooine.

They had received transmissions from the transports that had left just as the Empire arrived, but there were still four that had not checked in. And the fleet had yet to do so either. So he waited, here in his office. His eyes would shut momentarily before opening wide and attentive. What is taking them so long? He thought to himself. They should've reported back by now.

"Bail, we need to talk!" Came a harsh voice, as the door to his office quickly opened. The startled statesman nearly jumped out of his chair, before looking up to see Mon Mothma. The tall woman from Chandrila marched right up to his desk and looked at him with demanding blue eyes. Bail quickly tried to straighten himself out and grab the date pad he dropped on the floor.

"Bail, I'm sorry for interrupting you but we need to talk about the situation."

Bail still fumbling around to straightened himself was slow to respond, "Yes, we need to talk."

Mon grabbed a chair and pulled it up to his desk. She elegantly sat down and began talking rapidly, "Its been too long. We haven't heard anything from Kenobi or any of the transports left at Dantooine. And if we haven't heard from them by now I fear that we should prepare for the worst. Why are you just sitting here?" She demanded.

"I'm waiting for any information from the rest of the transports, or from our fleet. Until then I'm trying to get a little rest, but that is proving to be hard to do." Bail calmly replied.

"What about all the people who might be dying right now. The empire is destroying our forces, you should be up doing things."

"Is that it, you want me to be more active? What could I do?" Bail asked.

"You can do everything!" Mon exclaimed. "We are running a rebellion here Bail. It is our job to defeat the empire, to bring back democracy to the galaxy."

"I know Mon. I'm a part of this too, and I want to return to a free government just as much as you do. But I'm only human."

"I have worked tirelessly."

"So have I." Bail interjected.

"And I am dedicated fully to bringing the empire down at all costs." Mon declared.

"As am I. But as members of a democratically elected governing body we have to be mindful of the people we serve. We can't just recklessly throw lives away, even if we think we would win."

"I'm not talking about throwing the lives of our people away Bail. As far as I am concerned I will protect and care for every single member of this rebellion till the day I die. These people our family. And I would do anything for them."

"Then we are united in a common goal. What is the point of this?" Bail questioned.

"I'll tell you what the point of this is." Mon voice fiercely explained. "You aren't doing enough."

"Oh so that is it." Bail reacted.

"Yes! That is it. You sit here while the Empire kills our people and do nothing to plan how we will strike back at them. As much as you talk about bringing democracy back at all costs, you sure don't act like it."

"Are you questioning my loyalty to our cause?" Bail dangerously muttered in a low voice.

"No. I would never." Mon declared. "Only your dedication to doing what is necessary to win."

"Mon if you throw away all our values to do whatever is "necessary" then we would be no different from the empire."

"No! The difference is that we will treat our people with the respect they deserve. And those who oppose us, who oppose freedom will feel the wrath of those who properly defect these ideals."

"Again I don't think you understand." Bail tried to reason.

"Understand?" Mon mocked him. "Of course I understand, its your understanding that I worry about. Do you think that we can win against the empire if we constantly question every move we make. If we are going to bomb a military institution why should we have to worry about civilian casualties? As long as we don't take risks, and do what has to be done the Empire will remain strong."

"If we cause too many civilian casualties then what will the people of the Empire think of us?" Bail asked.

"I don't care what they think. We need to think about defeating the Empire first before we move on to dealing with public relations."

"But without the people then we have no cause. Without the people of the Empire joining us and rising up against their ruler then we have no war. If we destroy Imperial targets indiscriminately causing collateral damage how many of those people do you think will join our cause? You'll frighted half of them to death first of all. And all it will do will allow the Empire to use that damage against us. They could paint our Alliance as a terrorist group that will harm every imperial citizen. Instead of turning to us for freedom, the people will turn to the Empire for protection."

"But the Empire already portrays us as a terrorist group. It would make no different."

"It would make every different!" Bail exclaimed. "First of all as long as the Empire cannot back its claims up with facts, then the people will not believe them. The average citizen of the empire is struggling. They don't care about the Alliance or the Empire they just want a better life, and that is what we are offering. With democracy comes that hope. If people are going to be placing hope in our cause then we cannot be bombing them just to do a little damage to the Empire."

"But many of these people are also loyal imperial citizens."

"So they should die."

"All I am saying is that they wouldn't been a bit loss. It might even help us. Any loyalists will be a problem, now and in the future."

"What you are describing is murder."

"No, thats war Bail." Mon frowned. "And I'm sorry that the pacifistic people of Alderaan cannot see that in war some sacrifices have to be made for the greater good."

"How many times did we say that, did all the Senate say that during the Clone Wars. We made sacrifices, and look where it led us?"

"Yes but this time we don't have a power hungry Sith lord in charge. We are elected leaders who are looking our for our peoples best interests. And as far as I can tell the members of the Alliance want to see the Empire destroyed." Mon sighed and took a deep breath before she continued.

"Look Bail, I don't want to argue with you."

"The same goes for me." Bail added.

"But I just think that we could be doing more. I know you don't agree with everything I am asking but would you at least consider some propositions."

Bail looked around, as if he would find some way out. "Sure. What do you have in mind?"

"Consider my proposition about Vader." Bail looked her in the eye, knowing that this was why she had come.

"I have." Bail grumbled.

"No. I don't think you are. I want you to properly consider it." Mon proclaimed even more sternly as she leaned forward in her chair. She rested her hands on Bail's desk as if she owned it.

"He has gone to far this time. At the very least we much consider trying to remove him from the picture. Without him our efforts will be much better served. While he lives our rebellion may not succeed. We must do something now!"

"Yes Mon I have heard all your arguments before. I know the explanation why you want him dead and I would like it that way too."

"They why do you let the Jedi push you around. Clearly they are not up to the task, but that doesn't mean that we should not attempt to do so."

Bail sighed, "They Jedi on many occasions have counseled me to not go after the Sith, and I happen to see their point. Attacking him would only antagonize him and probably wouldn't work. If we can manage to keep the Sith calm we can better evade him."

"You and I know that is bullshit, pardon my language." Mon apologized harshly. "But the Jedi's thought on the matter are clouded. They have tried to kill him before and failed. They assume that if they can't kill them no one can. But it is an argument based upon false principles! There is no legitimate reason to not send assassins out. We have to kill..."

"Yes yes," Bail interrupted her tirade. "We have to kill him." Bail completed. "As you have said many times before. What do you want from me Mon?" She made a move to answer but a glare from Bail told her it was a rhetorical question, at least for the moment. "You asked me this before and I agreed the council would put it to a vote. Would you like that vote to happen sooner? Do you want me to just go behind the backs of the other leaders and give you permission to move forward in this task? If you really wanted I am sure you would of just gone behind my back. But the fact that you are here shows me you have some respect for the rules. So I will ask again, what do you want?"

"Put it to a vote today." Mon unassumingly asked. "With his recent attack we must decided on this matter soon."

"No thats not what you mean. You mean that because of today's attacks you're more likely to get a favorable vote. I know the game you place."

"Are you going to convince a council meeting again? Or will I have to go behind your back?"

Bail sighed. "Fine." He put simply. "I will do it your way. We will put it to a vote."

Mon looked at him suspiciously. "Your serious, we will have a meeting to vote on it today?" Bail nodded his head slowly, thinking about what he was doing. Mon almost seemed surprised that he agreed to it this easily, and it managed to keep her quiet for a few moments. Both Alliance leaders sat in silence thinking about their own positions. "Well thank you." Mon said awkwardly.

"There is really nothing that you need to be thanking me for." Bail grumbled humbly. "I will call the meeting for later this morning. Hopefully within that time we may hear something from any survivors."

"If there are any survivors." came the pessimistic response.

"I wish you would be more optimistic in this situation." Bail frowned.

"I'm just being realistic. Besides I am just as hopeful as you are that some of our men survived. All we can do now is wait." With that the two fell silent again. "Well I have things to be doing," she said tersely. Mon Mothma got up from the chair elegantly and briskly made her way to the door. "Thank you Bail." She said in a rare display of sincere friendly gratitude. "This is something that I really want and that I think will be a major step for our alliance." Bail nodded and watched her leave before leaning back in his chair to rest again.

War makes us all so tense, Bail mused. He remembered when Mon and him used to laugh together. They used to have fun, focus on the positive, but that was before the Empire of course. The damn Empire! Baul cured it for the thousandth time. It seemed that the Empire had taken everything away even old friendships.

After he had called the other Alliance leaders calling another meeting, he went back to trying to rest for a bit in his room. Though it wasn't long before he finally received a holo message. "Sir." Said his aid who notified him of the call. "You have a holo call from General Kenobi."

"Put him directly through." Bail ordered and instantly leaned forward in his chair, any traces of equation gone. The blue holo of the Jedi promptly flickered to life on the desk. "Master Kenobi, thank the force!" Bail cried. "Please give me some good news." He pleaded.

"Bail it is good to see you too." The Jedi said calmly. "As for good new I have some, and I also have some bad news."

"Yes but at least there is good news!" Bail exclaimed. "You wouldn't believe the exhausting day I have had here. Its probably nothing compared to yours but anyway, please tell me everything."

"In short, it was a disaster." Kenobi sighed. "We lost so many men today."

Bail shared a moment of silence for the dead before he continued. "How many did we manage to get out?"

"Most of the transports got out. But a lot of personnel were still on the planet. Some of them might of escaped on their fighters but we really won't know still everyone gets back to home base."

"And the fleet? What about you?"

"Well as you can see I am relatively alive. We engaged the Imperial fleet for a time, trying to give the people on the ground long enough to escape. Then the executor arrived. They did not enter the battle immediately. They hung back and released ground troops to invade the base before Vader took here and tried to outflank us. I couldn't let that happen so Garm and I orders the fleet to retreat. The Albatross is badly damaged, I'm still surprised she managed to get to hyperspace. But the Justice, and Storm One managed to get out relatively okay, but all three will still need repairs before we should send them back into the field."

"Okay. So the fleet escaped, and how many transports did you say you managed to get out?"

"Transports 1, 2, 3, and 6 managed to get out. I'm not sure what happened with the 4th and 5th transport, most likely they didn't get out."

Bail sighed at the bad news. Two transports lost was a devastating blow, but at the very least it wasn't more. The fact that four transports got out was very good news.

"Also Bail." Kenobi continued. "Commander Willard and Jedi General Agen Kolar are still on the planet last I heard. Most likely they are still there trying to defend the last of the survivors."

"This is grave news. The empire has dealt us a devastating blow."

"Yes. Now I am afraid that Vader might try and capitalize on the victory. He may be eager to start getting information out of any survivors." Bail shuddered to think what the Sith would do to the Alliance captives to get any information. Rumors had been heard, but there were rarely any survivors of the ordeal to live and tell the tale. "We may end up having to move our current home base as well."

"Yes, I was worried about that. It is a sad day for the alliance. Losing two transports and a Jedi."

"There still is a possibility they are alive." Kenobi offered optimistically.

"Tell me general, do you really think that any will manage to get out now?"

Kenobi sighed and looked down, "No."

Bail nodded in agreement, "No. We must move on from this, and we cannot let Vader capitalize on the victory as you suggest. I have already called a council meeting for today and we can add this to the agenda. When do you think you will be back?"

"The course to Gamorr is long and complex if we want to avoid imperial space. I should say the first transport should be arriving within a day or so."

"Well okay then, hurry back. We will begin making plans to move, so you won't get much rest when you get here."

"That all part of the job Bail." Kenobi said. "I will keep in touch if I hear anything from those who were left behind."

"Thank you Kenobi." Bail said. "And I'm glad you're alive." With that Organa terminated the comm call and rubbed his face with his hands. A busy day gets busier.

* * *

Mon paced back and forth in her room on the rebel base. The lights were dimmed down to a bare twilight and her white frock reflected what little light was emanating from the desk lamp. The puzzled look on her face would have raised questions if anyone had seen her, but nobody was there. It was just her, alone in her quarters. Sealed from the rest of the Alliance outside.

We must defeat the Empire, her mind told her. At all costs, came the echo. Her conversation with Bail was promising but she knew he would only allow her to go so far. The council would vote to put her plan into action that much was clear but she was worried that they wouldn't do enough to make sure the plan would succeed. If the Jedi were right about one thing, its was that Vader would be a hard target to kill.

But it needed to be done, for the Alliance and for freedom. They would give her permission what did it matter if she took the matter into her own hands anyway. Mon sighed and walked over to her desk, She was in a bind. She couldn't go to the more infamous bounty hunters as they were already in league and had rapport with Vader. She would have to go out of the mainstream, but she couldn't sacrifice quality assurance. She smiled when she looked down at her contact. The bounty hunter was a relic of the old war. She might of once despised the creature but now she could prove useful to the cause.

At the desk she quickly imputed a code to the comm system and awaited the reply. She quickly grabbed an unmarked helmet she had lying around and put it on her head. She had been in contact with this person before, but her identity remain a secret which would be imperative if she was to get away with the act. Bail would never approve of using her. Moments later the image of Asajj Ventress appeared before her. "What is it." The former Sith apprentice hissed.

"I have received confirmation of our plan. I have the funds and await your success in the matter."

"This will be a hard fight." Ventress growled.

"Can you do it?" Mon demanded.

"Of course I can." Ventress hissed. "Vader is long overdo for the justice that has long been coming to him."

"Ventress I couldn't agree more. Now go. I expect you to contact me immediately after the deed has been done. Goodbye." And with that Mon terminated the link. Yes, she mused to herself, she will serve me quite well.


	8. Escape from Nightfall

Author's note: Thanks for waiting for this next chapter. This one is a long one so hopefully that make up for the waiting time. I was busy with school and all that, but now I have plenty of time to devote to writing, so updates should be coming faster. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter 7: Escape from Nightfall**

With the council meeting adjourned Luminara slowly walked back to her quarters, stopping along the way to converse with a few fellow Jedi. She was eager to discuss Dooku's disappearance more, but it was still early in the morning and the Jedi master felt no need to rush into anything. Luminara finally reached her quarters in the temple, and used the comm system there to contact Skywalkers office to make an appointment.

"I wish to speak with Senator Skywalker today," she smoothly stated to the receptionist who answered her call.

"Name please." The woman formally demanded.

"Luminara Unduli, Jedi master."

"Yes I know who you are." The receptionist stated dryly. "What is the purpose of your request today?"

"I wish to speak with the Senator." Luminara repeated.

"I know that Master Unduli. What is it would wish to speak to him about?"

"Just about the war. I don't think I wish to say anymore at this time." Luminara strongly replied, no willing to really openly tell people about the disappearance of the Count.

"Fine Master Unduli. Please wait." The dry voice ordered. The woman's head disappeared form the holo for a moment but quickly returned. "He can see you at 11 o'clock Master Luminara. Will that be all for now?"

"Yes, thank you." The receptionist grunted and severed the comm connection leaving the Jedi alone in her room to think. She knew she had to contemplate her thoughts on the subject more before her meeting. Skywalker already know of Dooku's disappearance and wouldn't like it if she just came there to reiterate that fact. No, she needed to bring something new to the table. She needed to formulate what exactly felt so off about this whole situation.

Skywalker was a busy man, she didn't want to waste his time, and he had a notorious short attention span, so either she had something to say or he would get mad and throw her out of his office. Luminara remembered just last month he evicted two senators from his office who just wanted to have a little small talk. So she crossed her legs and began meditating, allowing the force to fill her and to guide her to the answers she needed.

* * *

The Jedi master's eyes slowly opened after her meditation. The force had provided few answers but at the same time it seemed to confirm that her anxiety wasn't for nothing. After that she made her way to the Senate building, which stood not far from the Jedi Temple. The large building had plenty of activity. Luminara fought her way through the Senators, visitors, workers and various people who wandered the halls of the building.

Eventually she made it to her destination. Skywalker's Senate office was richly decorated. The walls were covered in a fine dark red material, the carpet black with an intricate design upon it. Some claimed that all the opulence of the room was given to him by the rulers of Kuat, some even believed it was the chancellor himself who provided him with the opulent offices. Luminara took a brief moment to observe her surroundings, the color scheme wasn't to her taste but it was undeniable expensive. "Good morning." Came the dulled voice of Skywalker's receptionist.

"Oh. I talked to you earlier." Luminara began but was quickly cut off.

"Yes, yes. I know. You're here for your 11 o'clock with the Senator, yes?"

"Yes." She confirmed.

"Well sign in here, and he will be out shortly." Luminara did that and sat back in one of the chairs. It was only a short five minutes before the tall Senator poked his head out from his office.

"Ah Jedi Master Luminara why don't you come in." He said, gesturing for her to enter.

Luminara walked quickly in the Senator's office, which was decidedly darker than it should've been. The window had been shaded and it left the room with an almost cold atmosphere. Skywalker quickly walked around her and around to his chair behind his desk. "Its a very nice office you have here." Luminara ventured.

Skywalker glared at her for a moment before responding, "Yes isn't it?" Came the rhetorical question said with a clear sarcasm. "A bit much for my tastes but someone in my position must maintain appearances." He laid back in his chair, watching her for a moment before abruptly coming forward, "Why are you here?"

"Well I needed to talk to you about the developments with Count Dooku, you see..." He cut her off right there.

"Yes, I talked with the Council this morning. They didn't seemed to troubled about it."

"Well yes," Luminara conceded. "But I have a few other ideas, you see."

"If you had more to say then why didn't you say it during the council meeting instead of wasting my time here?"

"Well I..." Luminara stuttered for a moment before getting back on track. "Its just that the council had dismissed my ideas, though I believe there may be some merit to them."

"Do you now?" Skywalker responded dryly.

"Yes," Luminara said slowly, unsure if he wanted her to continue. "Look you are the Chancellor's representative to the council and I just thought it would be wise to bring this to you. I think there are some important facts that no one has really thought about yet."

"Fine. I suppose you're right, it is my job to listen to what the Jedi have to say." Skywalker paused for a moment. "You know, people think of me having a short temper. Do you see it?" Luminara just stared at him, unsure what was polite in this situation. "Come now don't be shy Master Jedi, I know my reputation and to be honest I think it's true."

"Well how does..." Luminara searched for words, not exactly sure where he was going with this.

"Sorry." He blurted out, in a way that didn't make Luminara think that he meant it. "Its just that I am so busy of late. The chancellor has me do this and that, and I still have my job to do for Kuat. In fact I have a big event coming up this evening," He paused looking down at his desk and smirked. Luminara frowned, thinking something was a bit odd about him today. "So as you can see I am very busy, but I still have my job to do and I shouldn't be putting you off like this. So, Master Jedi what is it you wanted to tell me." He said, apparently calming down, he leaned back in his chair and waited for her.

"It just doesn't make sense. Dooku's disappearance I mean. We are nearing the end of the war, Kenobi is on a mission to kill Grievous, and suddenly the leader of the Confederacy disappears? I don't think he would just leave, no, not him."

"So what are you suggesting?"

"Well I can only come to two conclusions about the situation."

"Okay, lets hear them."

"Well we know that Dooku is the Sith apprentice so one possible explanation is that the master found a new apprentice and that new apprentice killed him,"

Skywalked gave a small smile, "Isn't that an interesting theory."

"Well yes. That is how the Sith operate Senator. The apprentice either kills the master or the master has to find a new more powerful one."

"Well isn't that interesting. But why would the Sith Master want to find a new apprentice that could kill him?"

"Well that's the rule of two. Or at least that's the idea."

"Rule of two?" Skywalker asked.

"Well simple it is the principle that there is a master and an apprentice and the master's job to teach his knowledge to a worthy individual to ensure the survival of the Sith."

"Yes but that doesn't explain,,," This time Luminara interrupted the Senator.

"Well we know that the Sith are attracted to power, so the idea is that the Master would always want someone more powerful to be his apprentice, to help him further his plans."

"I see." Skywalker said, while nodding his head. "Now what about your other theory?"

"Well, if in one theory Dooku is dead, then in this one he is alive. The only reason I could see that the leader of the confederacy would just suddenly leave would be if he had something his master wanted him to do, or he knew the end of the Confederacy was quickly coming. Which it is."

"I see. So you think that either the Sith have replaced Dooku, or they are jumping ship from the confederacy."

"Yes, but either one is disturbing because it points to something important happening. If the Sith master has a new apprentice and did away with Dooku then that must mean he is preparing for something big for the Republic."

"Are you suggesting that the Sith are planning something, perhaps ever a takeover just because Dooku is dead?"

"Yes."

"Sounds a bit outlandish, doesn't it?"

"Well Sir. I don't really think so. This is something that could spell disaster of the republic, and its my job to try and get someone to treat it with the proper response."

"I see." Skywalker sighed and got up from his chair. "Are you really sure Master Luminara? It would seem this is just conjecture."

"Yes Sir, but I really do think this is important. I need someone to at least take this seriously."

"Have you shared all of these suspicions with the council?" Skywalker asked.

" Well I talked briefly about them but they didn't really let me get past my first sentence."

"I see. And you are still intent are pursuing this?"

"Yes, it is my duty." Luminara watched as the Senator walked slowly over to the window and looked out to the dimmed cityscape.

"Well if you really think this could be big then I suppose that something should be done about it." Luminara nodded her head. "The Chancellor's office messaged me that there might be a development in Dooku's disappearance."

"What?" Luminara jumped at the news.

"I'm not sure. This was just before you got here. If you wouldn't mind waiting I am going to run over there and see what this is about. It might help with all these questions you have."

"Yes Mr. Skywalker, please do go get it. Any more information is very helpful at this point. As I said, these are only theories."

"Good." Skywalker said with a smirk. "I'm just gonna run over there, I should be back in ten minutes. I'll have my staff bring you something to drink while you wait." With that Skywalker walked out of the room and left Luminara alone in her thoughts.

* * *

"So that was your conversation with him?" Qui Gon asked.

"Yes." Luminara said with a sigh. "I didn't know it at the time but when I thought about it later there were plenty of signs that he was up to something, if not signs pointing to him working with Sidious."

"Yes, obvious it was after they revealed themselves." Yoda added.

"The way he carried himself, talked about the Jedi, he had impeccable mental shield just like Palpatine but you could see something different about him. Honestly his office that day had hints of the darkness, but I dismissed them as being just part of the regular dark side fog that had settled over Coruscant."

"Yes clouded all of our better judgment it did." Yoda commented.

"You had your conversation with him. What happened after that?" Qui Gon asked.

* * *

"Sorry for the wait." Skywalker said as he walked back into the room, his black senate robes fluttering about as he rushed back to his desk.

"Well it appears a very interesting development has occurred." Luminara leaned forward, eager to hear what could of possibly come up. "Count Dooku was caught on an old government security camera in the works just 25 hours ago."

Luminara blinked a few times, the confusion clearly written on her face. "What? Why would Dooku be here on Coruscant, and alive?"

"Well lets not jump to conclusions here Master Jedi. He could be dead already, or not. We don't know, but the chancellor is gonna send an elite team down there to try and find him, he has authorized you to accompany them if you wish. In fact I think I would feel best if you did go, if Dooku is down there I would think a Jedi of your caliber should be there to properly handle the situation."

"Well I should go back to the temple, maybe get a few more jedi. This could be complicated."

"No." Skywalker stated firmly. "The team is leaving, now so if you want to help you have to go now too. Besides I am sure you can handle the situation by yourself. I will inform the council on your behalf and have them send a team after you just in case." Skywalker said, giving a reassuring smile.

"You said they are leaving now?"

Skywalker nodded. "Yes, the chancellor is adamant that this needs to be looked at immediately. It cannot wait."

"Well..." came the unsure reply.

"You yourself said this was an issue of paramount importance, and these are the best clone commando's we have. They need you though, they need a... Jedi." He said, almost forcing the last word out.

"Alright, I will go." Luminara stated, getting up from her chair.

"Good, This is very reassuring." Skywalker said as he walked around to her motioning for her to leave. "The team will meet you at the security level 56B, hangar 4. They will be departing shortly for the works so I advise you hurry."

Luminara stopped before she exited the room and turned to Skywalker. "Thank you Senator for believing in me." Skywalker gave her a polite nod as she left the room. As she left the Jedi could almost see the dark smirk Skywalker had as the door closed between them.

* * *

The clone commandos were waiting for here. The drop-ship was prepared and fired up to leave the moment she stepped onto the ship. Luminara didn't feel anything wrong at that point, of course any signs of danger from the force the Jedi would simply interpret as relating to the upcoming investigation into Dooku's arrival here on Coruscant.

Luminara wondered to herself why the Sith would come here to Coruscant. If Sidious were here it would make sense. So his appearance does corroborate that the Sith have a presence in the capital. But why come to the works of all place?

The drop ship smoothly took off from the landing platform flying into the midday sun of Coruscant. The commandos were in their impeccably shiny armor, painted dark blue to signify they were member of the 501st. There were 10 commandos all together, another two piloting the ship and one Captain, who still had his helmet off. "Master Jedi," the captain called over the roar of the ship's engines. "Senator Skywalker informed me that you would be helping us on this mission. I assume you have been given the details we are investigating?"

"Yes Captain." Luminara responded. "Skywalker just informed me that the Separatists leader Count Dooku was spotted in the Work just 25 hours ago."

"That is correct," he confirmed. "We are being sent to investigate. It is possible that he is still on the planet. He was last seen in a remote section of the works. There's not a lot of life around those parts so it should be easy to spot him."

"The works are a dangerous and twisted place, why would he go there?" Luminara asked out loud.

"No idea Master Luminara. All I know is that it's our job to figure out where he is now and to take him into custody if given the chance."

"Are you sure your men are ready for this?" Luminara asked. Dooku was a Sith and would be a challenge for all of them, her included.

"Yes Master Luminara. We are an elite part of the 501st, specially trained to deal with... high value targets." Luminara nodded as he told her this, she certainly hoped that they were good if they actually did meet up with Dooku. But something told her that he probably was already gone.

The clear skies of midday Coruscant slowly faded into the red industrial haze of the works. The farther they went from the Senate building the more ugly things became. Towers with smoke rising from them picked out of the twisted surface of the district. The farther they went the less inhabited things became. There were parts of the works that had been uninhabited for years, and some that were inhabited by less than savory characters. In all honesty it was the best place to hid on Coruscant, then again it didn't make since why Dooku would be here of all places.

The drop-ship quickly made its way into the dense fog of the works. The pilot slowly taking them down towards the twisted surface. The ship passed through tunnels, caverns and crevasses in the buildings. The works was a difficult place to maneuver in, or find anything in. But never the less the clones seemed to know where they were going, setting the ship down on a landing platform. They were already deep beneath the artificial surface, and light barely made its way down here. Only the few iridescent lights that still worked allowed her to see with her eyes. Still the force told her all she needed to know about this place.

She stepped off the craft and walked towards the entrance to the landing platform. A large door that was stuck open. She could make out a large hallway beyond. The darkness seemed to close in about here. One of the flickering lights set her on edge. Could she feel Count Dooku here? She certainly felt the darkness here, but not Dooku. She took another step into the darkness, not paying attention to the clone commandos behind her.

It was just a split second warning she got. She couldn't see them but the danger was there. The clone commando's quickly whipped out their blasters, took aim and fired at her. Only quick reflexes save her. The jedi master jumped high into the air, the darkness of the works closed in. All the while the clones continued to fire. "Keep firing!" The captain ordered, "Make sure the jedi doesn't get away."

Mid jump she ignited her lightsaber, the green blade illuminating her in the dark. The blade expertly deflected the bolts that flew at her as she landed back on the platform. The quick blaster fire forced her back towards the door, she needed to get out of this. A few of the laser bullets she deflected back at the commando's, a few rolled aside, clearly agile enough to stay ahead of the game. But two of them fell quickly, as the ricocheting bolts hit them squarely in the forehead.

Luminara built the force up around her, readying for her attack. With a quick movement she flung out her hand sending the commando's flying back into the ship, one of them even flew off the edge of the platform into the abyss below. There were still eight left, and the two pilots were now exiting the craft. She needed to get out of there.

With a quick jump she landed on a ledge meters above the platform. There was a small tunnel in the buildings and she quickly disappeared into that. She made her way through the access corridors of the building, trying to make her way up. She could sense the clones spreading out, trying to find her. Going up she reached a dead end, trying hard she relied the only way up was through the way the drop ship came in.

She quietly moved down through the dark passages, back towards the landing platform. If she could deal with the clones one by one, she was sure she could make it out of here. She found a quiet ledge that looked over the landing platform. She concealed herself in the force and peered through the small holes in the metal framing down where the turncoat clones where stationed. Members of their group were still prowling about and the Jedi was keeping her wits about her as she watched them. Why did they attack me? Who ordered this, possibly Sidious? But he shouldn't have this kind of control over the clones.

"Any sign of her." The captain asked of his returning companions.

"No, We searched the area."

She knew that Sidious was in the Senate but this must come from the Chancellor's office. The Jedi inched forward, just dying to find out who was behind her attack. They had set her up that's all she knew and she needed to warn the council.

"Well then send out the bots to scan for lifeforms. This area's pretty devoid of life so we should be able to find her."

"Damn Jedi!" One of them cursed. "It will be good riddance when we can finally get rid of their kind."

"You said it." Another agreed causally, taking Luminara by surprise.

"Don't you boy's worry, command has something special planned for them very soon. But right now we need to find this Jedi master."

"Yes sir, well put out a few scouting bots, they can search for life-signs."

"Yeah, nobody else is around here anyway, we will find her."

"Good, because you know what command does about failure. I am going to report in right now update the Senator. What a fucking mess." The captain said, looking down at the dead bodies of his fellow commandos.

"You said it." One of his comrades, agreed as they began to fan out. Luminara checked around her, looking into the deep darkness of the deserted works area. She should be safe here for now, but only if she could find who did this. She watched the captain as he walked over to a secluded corner, she could just barely make out the figure the came on life on the comm system. Skywalker.

"Lord Vader." The commando said. Vader? Luminara questioned, her mind seeking to solve the puzzle.

"What is it Captain." Skywalker drawled. "Did you do it? Did you kill her?" It was him, he set her up. Luminara gasped out loud, the noise carried over the metal cavern.

"What was that!" A commando shouted.

"Probably a gundark you idiot, keep searching." Another answer.

Luminara cursed and returned her attention to the tiny figure of Senator Skywalker.

"My lord," the commander said, "She managed to evade us, killing three of our comrades but she won't get far. This area is sealed off, and no one is around here. We have scouting bots looking for her now. She won't evade us for much longer."

"For your sake captain," Skywalker said menacingly. "I hope you do find her. Report back to me immediately after you have terminated her." He said darkly, almost growling out the words. Luminara could almost feel the hatred she sense from his tone, the force might be blank when it came to him but his demeanor said it all. "Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes My Lord." The clone responded politely, and the connection was terminated. Lord? Could it be possible? Luminara thought to herself, it Skywalker the Sith? No, he was too young, Dooku would never of been apprenticed to someone like him. Could it be that he is Sidious's new apprentice, the Jedi wondered. Whatever it was, it wasn't good, she had to get back to the council and warn them.

The was a loud creak before it happened. The metal under her weakened by centuries of neglect. "What was that!" The commando's shouted looking up to her hiding place, just as the floor beneath her gave way. She was so concentrated on the clones and her own inquiries into the chain of events that the Jedi had no time to react. The floor disappeared dropping her into the dark world beneath coruscant.

* * *

"And that was it." Luminara stated.

"What was it?" Qui Gon looked at her puzzled.

"I fell and was knocked unconscious for quite sometime, my "rescuers" captured me and ferried me off the plant. I eventually escaped the criminals and found my way here. By the time I had awoken the purge had already happened, it was like a part of me died in my sleep, part of me never to return."

Yoda sighed at the revelation form Luminara. "Know you did, not given the chance we were to save ourselves." Yoda said, seemingly blaming their misfortune on an act of fate, on the force.

The three Jedi sat in silence for a few moments before they continued to talk. "It was after that I realized that Skywalker had gone to his master to set up the trap. They knew I needed to be eliminated so that I couldn't go back to the Jedi and raise more questions. They were so close to victory that they planned to have me killed."

"It seems they wanted to be sure that you couldn't interfere with their plans. So that's how you survived that day." Qui Gon mused.

"Yes," Luminara agreed. "I've also come to realize that the Sith must of had loyal clones before order 66, clones that were privy to at least some knowledge of their true identity, and plans."

"Your interaction with the clone commando's would certainly suggest that."

Luminara sighed, "This is just another thing that we were too blind to see."

"Self pity right now we need not." Master Yoda chimed in. "Interesting your account is. Light it does shed on the events of that day, Qui Gon and I grateful we are for your information." Qui Gon nodded in agreement.

"Time I will need to think about this, and to formulate our next course of action."


	9. Cat and Mouse

Author's note: I finally uploaded a cover photo for the story a while ago. I have been meaning to do for a while, and I hope you all like it. Updates should be coming out more regularly now that I am settled down after the start of the school year. Please leave a review, it is really great to hear what you all think of the story and helps motivate me to write faster. If you have any questions feel free to leave them in a review, or PM me and I will be happy to answer them for you. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter 8: Cat and Mouse**

The imperial shuttle, escorted by TIEs quickly made its descent to Dantooine. The shuttle was a portent of doom, bringing the rebels destruction with it. Darth Vader sat alone in the main shuttle compartment. There the dark lord basked in the darkness, the hatred and anger he felt for the rebels. The rebels had lost this battle, their transports destroyed and their base was about to be overrun.

But Vader didn't celebrate, Kenobi managed to escape which made the Sith's blood boil. The cursed Jedi has eluded him at every turn, the coward had run from him across the galaxy, unwilling to face him once again. Vader knew he would win the second duel, the first he had been at a disadvantage, but now after two years of experience killing Jedi Vader was confident that he could easily overpower the Jedi Master.

The shuttle continued to make its way down to Imperial forward command which his general had set up. The staging area for the ground assault was littered with imperial troops and their various machines of war. The shuttle quickly touched down on the golden grass of Dantooine, and the dark presence stepped out into the windy air. Vader as always wore his black Sith robes and armor, his cloak covered his face in shadow.

Two yellow eyes of hate scanned the Imperial troops and the battle before him. General Veers ran up to the Sith as he started to stride across the landing area. "Lord Vader, we have secured the premise and are waiting your orders to move in." Vader nodded.

"I want no rebels to escape General, some may try to on their starfighters but we will let the Navy handle that. As for us," he said referring to the ground troops around him. "All we have left is to close the noose around their necks."

"Yes my Lord." The general agreed.

"Any Alliance officers may be taken prisoner, exterminate everyone else." Vader commanded.

"As you wish my lord."

"And lastly General," Vader growled. "I will be leading my 501st commando team into the base, if you happen to spot any Jedi, you will have it reported to me immediately."

"Yes Sir!" Veers saluted and walked away, knowing that was all the dark lord had to order. He quickly walked back shouting orders to the troops as he went, the general knew Lord Vader wanted the rebels dead quickly and he was much obliged to offer him that.

Meanwhile, Vader walked on towards his contingent of commandos. These were the best fighters in the galaxy, they had almost never failed him. Except for that one time with Master Luminara, but their failure had been dealt with and after that he had experience no more problems his personal troops.

"Commander," Vader called to the leader of the squad.

"Yes Lord Vader." Came the obedient response. The stormtrooper commando, in the 501st colors marched over to his leader.

"Are the members of your squad ready?"

"Yes Sir."

"Good. I have just given the order to attack to General Veers, we shall make our own entrance into the rebel base through one of the hole blown in the northwest side of the base by our artillery. You will wait for my mark."

"Yes Sir."

Vader stepped forward, observing the rebel base. There were a few small buildings perched on top of a hill, the rest of the base was spread out underground. The rebels have hidden this place very well, but now their time was up. Vader reached out with the force, searching the base. At first he felt the fear in the rebels, their panic to try and escape. The Sith soaked up their fear using it to further the dark side within him.

Pathetic. The Sith lord thought to himself. The rebels would soon die and their pointless rebellion destroyed. He continued searching the base with the force till he found what he was interested in. There! His mind shouted, a Jedi. Vader smirked, he knew there was one left in the system, that's why Kenobi had been so reluctant to leave. Well Kenobi, Vader thought, you have sealed your friends fate and left him to die. There could be no other outcome.

"Commander!" He called.

"Yes Sir." Came the response.

"There is a Jedi in the northeast wing of the base, we will make it our priority to find and exterminate him. Prepare your troops to deal with the rebels around the Jedi, but I want to make it clear that I will personally deal with him. Understood." Vader ordered.

"Yes Sir." The commando replied, Vader grinned, he expected nothing less that the complete obedience from his troops. With his blood boiling from Kenobi's escape Vader nearly jumped right into the base. But the activated the comm on his wrist and contacted Veers.

"General."

"Yes My Lord?"

"I have sensed a Jedi in the northeast wing of the rebel structure, I will be dealing with him personally."

"I will make sure the rest of the battalion knows to keep away from the Jedi, I will keep you updated on his movements in the base if need be."

"Good. Now General, contact Admiral Ozzel and tell him to stop the bombing of the base, the rest will be left up to us. You may begin your attack."

"Yes Sir!" The comm connect was terminated, and Vader watched as the TIE bombers, which until moments ago had been constantly shelling the facility, flew back up to the Star Destroyers in orbit. It wasn't long before the walkers, and the ground troops began their assault, all moving towards the base.

Vader called to his unit with a savage battle cry and with that the dark lord began charging the rebel base. The scum would know his fury.

* * *

The base had fallen into shadow. The imperials had already destroyed the power generator and the emergency lights weren't that reliable. What little light was there was red, flashing red was all that you could see down the empty hallways. Hundreds of alliance troops had managed to escape but more than a hundred still remained trapped in the base. Without the option to escape outward, many of them turned inward to the maze of passages in the hillside.

When the rebels built the base, they hollowed out a large area around and below the hill. The architects had built it in a way that if an enemy ever got in there just the sheer amount of winding passages would confuse them, and buy the residents a little more time, and this was Kolar was thinking.

"We cannot allow ourselves to be overtaken by fear." Agen Kolar sternly stated to the command room staff. "Transport 5 has been officially grounded by falling debris, is that correct Kevin?"

The Alliance officer nodded his head, "Yes sir."

"That is most unfortunate. If the intercom system is still working I want you to send out a message to the troops still stationed there to make their way to the underground passages. They cannot afford to sit and wait there."

"Why bother? Most of those tunnels don't even lead out of the base. Any moment now the Imperials will bombard the ground upon which we stand to rubble. What use is there?"

"Willard, I am most disappointed with you, despair is not becoming of an officer of the Alliance. We must remain strong."

"Strong for what? There's not a single glimmer of hope we can hang on to."

"You are not helping Willard." The Jedi master said, glancing at the other officers and alliance soldiers in the room who looked queasy over the man's comments. "Just be quite for the time being. Transport 4 is still operational, yes?"

"Yes Master Kolar. The transport is still in the hanger, but the doors are still shut and the imperials are still bombarding the surrounding land."

"That will make no difference. Vader is here."

"How is that not going to make a difference?" Willard cried, and Kolar quickly shot a glance of stern disapproval which quickly shut him up.

"Vader is here for me. His pride will force him down here to hunt me down himself."

"How do you know?" Kevin asked.

"He does not trust his troop to do the job correctly and he will most likely want the pleasure of killing me himself after Kenobi escaped. When he comes down here the fleet will have to stop bombarding us to allow the troops to enter the base. This is the window of opportunity the transport and the rest of the starfighters have to escape. Jane if you would relay that information to our men in hanger 4. The transport will have a chance to get away if the starfighters properly distract the fleet as the larger ship escapes elsewhere." Jane nodded and turned to her display pulling up the intercom system to contact the people in the hanger.

"Once that is done we must worry about ourselves and the men who no longer can escape on transport 5. You all need to meet up with the other men. Once you reach the lower tunnels the information on the data pads will lead you out of the base. It is a long way, a few miles walk but there is a chance that you can escape that way."

Willard quickly stood up and called out to the other alliance soldiers in the room: "Alright everyone get up we need to move quick and get out of here."

"Not so fast Willard, you will stay with me." The officer looked at the Jedi master with horror. "Do not worry my friend I have no intention of letting you die."

"But you said it yourself Vader is coming after you."

"Which is why I will not be joining the large group as they try to escape. Vader will sense where I am and I do not wish to compromise or lessen the troop's chance of escape. As for us I need someone with me to help me get though the bases security and make it harder for Vader to follow us."

"Why can't one of them do it?" Willard motioned to the people behind him.

"Vanden!" Kolar scolded. "I asked you as the senior officer to do your duty and help district the enemy so these people can escape. I realize that you are fearing what may happen but I need you to help me… they need you to help them." Willard hung his head and nodded in acceptance silently. "Good. Now Jane, have you relayed the order to the troops?"

"Yes Sir."

"Good. No Jane, Kevin take the people here and meet up with Officer Holden and the transport people at the south entrance to the deep tunnels."

"Yes Sir." Jane saluted. "Alright men you heard the Jedi, let's move out. Kevin led the group forward as I grasp some of this equipment." Kolar and Willard watched as the room slowly emptied out. "I am just delating all the files in the base before I leave Master Jedi." Jane called out from her work station.

"Very good Jane. You have done a good job, and I hope you and the rest of the troops manage to get out."

"And the same to you Sir."

"Don't worry about me and Willard. We will be fine, no matter what happens."

"It has been a pleasure searching under you master Jedi." And with that the alliance officer ran out of the room into the red hallway and after the group of troops heading toward salvation. With her gone it left the Jedi and Willard in the control center alone.

"Willard I need you to monitor the comm station for a little bit, till we get transport 4 out of here. With any luck you and I will walk out of here alive."

* * *

Vader ran toward the base with his troops behind him. Jumping high into the air, he flew through a hole in the wall. Vader clocked in darkness, landed swiftly in the rebel base. The red lights in the base flashed and through insidious shadows unto the Sith lord's face. The troops of the 501st quickly flooded into the base after their master, who haddnt bothered to wait for them.

Vader strode quickly through the hallways glancing about. The troops struggled to keep up the pace behind him. Debris from the bombardment were falling about and Vader expertly dodged them, shoving the material out of the way just to allow is troops proper passage. He allowed the force to guide him through the rebel base to where the jedi was. He could sense some of the rebels running about the structure, no doubt trying to save their iserable lives. It wouldn't matter, soon the base would be overrun with imperial troops. The rebels would die today.

With his blood boiling Vader made his way quickly through the structure. He noticed he was moving upwards. "Sir!" Called out one of the 501st behind him. The clone jogged close behind and continued, "We have acquired a basic scematic of the base and it seems we are headed for the command center, there are however reports that there is one last transport making a run for it close by. Shall we go and try to stop it."

"Do not bother soldier. We will continue to find the Jedi, he is most likely in the command center you spoke of. Send a few men if you must but our main priority must be the Jedi."

"Yes sir." And with that the Stormtrooper turned back to the rest of the group and shouted some orders. A small contingent broke off and headed down another passageway, while the rest continued to follow Vader up to the commander center. Vader's pulse quacked as he neared the command center.

He rounded the dark corner and ran into the control center, only to find it abandoned. There was not a soul in sight. Damn it! Vader reached out and violently punched one of the consoles with his fist. His troops appeared behind him to find the dark lord kicking the debris in the room. "He's gone. We must find him." Vader practically seethed. He sensed the Jedi near but he didn't know where he was. This damn base was too complicated.

"My lord, over here!" One of the troops called out. Vader stalked over to the troop who was standing over a shaft in the floor of the room leading down into the darkness. The hatch was thrown off to the side. "Lord Vader he must have escaped through here."

"Good work. Commander! Find out where this shaft leads, keep me updated, I am going to pursue the Jedi myself. Stay here and gather the information you need." The troopers nodded and Vader again took off into the dark, red light lit hallways.

* * *

Willard was breathing quickly as he ran after the Jedi down the hallway. They had given the Sith the slip, which gave Willard some hope but he knew they were far from being out of this thing. Kolar glanced back at him every few seconds while he effortlessly navigated his way through the building.

"Willard! Do you see the blast doors ahead of us?"

"Yes."

"I need you to open them and seal them behind us."

Willard stopped running and breath heavily for a moment before bending down to work on the door controls. Almost no time had passed before he got the thing open. "Good, I will be right back, I need to grab something, seal the door and you will be fine for the time being." With that the Jedi disappeared down the hallway. Willard let out a big sigh and crossed the threshold to work on the door control panel on the other side.

That Jedi needs to be more careful, he thought to himself. He's going to get me killed. With that the blast doors shut sealing him inside the next part of the base. Willard slumped down, leaning against the wall. The quiet moment was the first he had gotten since the morning. The threat of Vader still loomed but with the door in between him and the Sith he felt a little bit safer. Willard's quick breath was the only noise in the hallway, till a sound emanated for one of the hallways.

That's not the hallway Kolar went down, there coming this way, shit! It could be imperials. Quickly he dived under some debris and boxes. Crouching beneath them he grabbed the small blaster he had holstered. Sure enough a few Stormtroopers appeared from the hallway in a moment. Willard's heart quickened as they drew near.

"Should be go down that way?" One of them mentioned while pointed down the way Kolar had gone.

"Maybe we should see what's behind that door."

"Maybe we should continue down the easy path."

"Afraid of a challenge soldier?"

"No."

"Well then lets see what we have here."

Willard closed his eyes tightly, then opened them as the troops were slowly making their way to his hiding place by the door.

"We may have to hotwire it."

"You think so?"

"Yes."

Willard cursed to himself for hiding by the control panel. Just as the trooper almost was upon him a noise from the other side startled the people in the room. A bright red blade appeared in the door slowly cutting a circle through the durasteel.

"It appears Lord Vader is on the other side, maybe we should continue sweeping the other hallway we now know who is there."

"No, we should wait for…" and with that the soldier was silence with a green lightsaber blade through his head.

"It's a Jedi!"

"Blast him!"

But the stormtroopers didn't get the chance as the Jedi made short work of the five men. "Come on Willard! We have to go!" Willard had his eyes affixed to the red blade cutting through the door. Kolar scowled and grabbed Willard by the collar and hoisted him up. "Let's go." With that he dragged the officer down the hallway away from the vengeful Sith slowly cutting through the door. Willard didn't think they would last ten minutes.


End file.
